South China's Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) on Thursday launched a pilot program enabling overseas investors to access domestic financial products offered by local financial institutions.
The pilot program is open to overseas institutions and qualified overseas individual investors worldwide.
The eligible products covered by the pilot program include wealth management products, private asset management products from securities, fund and futures operators, publicly offered securities investment funds, and insurance asset management products.
In addition, the investment account is flexible, as overseas investors can open Chinese yuan bank settlement accounts and free trade accounts in banks within the Hainan FTP. They can purchase pilot asset management products through these accounts and are encouraged to use the Chinese yuan for pricing and accounts settlement. The initial pilot program sets the upper limit of overseas investors' net inflow of funds at 10 billion yuan (about 1.39 billion U.S. dollars), which would be dynamically adjusted based on the economic and financial development situation of the Hainan FTP, the balance of payments situation, and the actual market demand.
"For overseas investors, the pilot program opens up new channels for investing in Chinese financial products and enriches their asset allocation options. For domestic asset management institutions, the pilot program can help expand their customer sources and broaden the space for business growth," said Dong Ximiao, chief researcher at Merchants Union Consumer Finance Company Limited (MUCFC).
China's Hainan FTP launches pilot program to allow overseas investment in financial products
