Li Dongrong, deputy director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the country's forex watchdog, said yesterday in Hunan Province that China has granted overseas investment quotas totaling US$20.5 billion to a total of 24 QDIIs so far.

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Specifically, 19 banks have been approved to buy foreign exchanges worth US$14.8 billion on behalf of their clients for overseas investment, and four insurers and one fund company have been granted quotas of US$5.2 billion and US$500 million respectively.

Li also said that the amendment to management measures on insurers' foreign investment had been completed and the revised regulation will be released soon.

Currently, banks, securities companies, funds and insurance companies are allowed to invest in stocks and funds in overseas markets.

Morgan Stanley China strategist Jerry Lou said overseas investment was less attractive for domestic investors due to a bullish stock market in China and the still high expectation of the yuan appreciation.

Frank Gong, an economist of JPMorgan Securities, said nearly US$100 billion will be invested in overseas markets through a QDII scheme in a few years.

"China's current account surplus is more than US$250 billion annually, and the government must expand the outflow of foreign exchange if it wants to relieve the appreciation pressure of the yuan," Gong said. "The QDII is a good and effective channel to invest China's forex."

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