OREANDA-NEWS. May 04, 2012. In an announcement at the Forum - "QFII (Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors) 10th Anniversary Review and Outlook" hosted by ICBC, the Bank has provided custody services for 28 QFII customers up to end of March this year. Of which, 21 ICBC QFII customers obtained the FX investment quota to a total of USD 3.285 billion, reported the press-centre of ICBC.  

China launched the QFII system in 2002, a special program in opening up China's capital market in a gradual and orderly manner. Over the course of a decade, QFII system has played a pivotal role in three areas: lift up the influence of China's capital market in the world, facilitate stable capital flow in and outside China and allow international investors to participate in the most vibrant emerging economy - China. Earlier, China regulatory authorities sped up the approval process for both QFII licenses and quotas. The move provides more business opportunities to China's asset service institutions. ICBC hosting the Forum on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of QFII system not only pays tribute to the performance of the industry in the decade, but provides a platform for QFII customers to understand and get more information about investing in China market, said the industry insiders.

At the end of 2011, over RMB 3.5 trillion of assets under the custody of ICBC demonstrated ICBC's market dominance for thirteen consecutive years in the main custody services for securities investment funds, insurance assets and corporate annuity funds and global assets. ICBC, as the largest Chinese custodian bank for QFII in the country, scales up its custody services on par with the international standard driven by the requirements of overseas customers, paving the way for ICBC to be a global custodian bank providing custody services to customers around the world. By embracing IT and innovation to drive the growth of custody business, ICBC became the first custodian bank in the country that used modularized and standardized processing for custody business through the launch of independently developed system and continuous upgrade. In moving forward custody business, ICBC focus on a strategic plan which is aimed to build up a global network and improve the service capability.