(China) – China is likely to approve the first batch of custodian banks under its qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) scheme by the end of this year, according to Citibank Asia-Pacific’s head of global securities services, Richard Ernesti.Citibank applied to become a custodian under the scheme last week, along with HSBC, Standard Chartered and several domestic Chinese banks.
Under the QFII rules, foreign investors will be able to buy publicly traded, yuan-denominated A shares and selected bonds listed on the Shanghai and Shenzen stock markets.