People's Bank of China and China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange have removed restrictions on investment quotas of qualified foreign institutional investors and RMB qualified foreign institutional investors in a move to open its financial market, SAFE announced in a news release.
"Qualified investors will no longer need to apply for any investment quota from SAFE," the release said. "Instead, they shall entrust their main custodians to make a registration with the SAFE."
According to the new regulations announced Thursday, institutional investors may now choose which currency and the timing of inward remittance. In addition, SAFE has simplified the procedures for which investors repatriate their securities investment income. Going forward, this procedure can be done with tax commitment letters signed by the investors instead of a special audit report on investment returns issued by a Chinese certified public accountant and tax clearance or tax filing certificates.
SAFE has also removed limits on the number of custodians investors may use.