China to relax rules for foreign investors for trading on interbank market: sources

[HONG KONG] China will relax rules for foreign investors for trading on its Shanghai-based interbank market, including making it easier to obtain quotas such investments, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

Participants in China's capital market investment schemes for foreigners - the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) scheme and its renminbi-denominated version (RQFII) - will in the future use a registration system that eliminates the need to apply for regulatory approval for quotas in the interbank market, the sources said.

Foreign investors will also be permitted to invest in more products traded in the interbank market, such as banks'certificates of deposits (CDs), bond repurchase agreements and swaps, including interest rate swaps, the sources said.

Qualified foreign investors are currently confined mainly to trading spot bonds and conducting lending and borrowing in the money market.

No firm date has been set for the reforms, but it is possible they could be implemented as early as May, the sources said.

China's central bank and foreign exchange regulators declined to make any immediate comment on the moves.

REUTERS