The Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor regime - through a special segregated account - allows global institutional investors to invest in China's renminbi-denominated capital market

BNP Paribas has won a licence in China to provide custody services for China’s Qualified Foreign Investor (QFI) scheme, which allows it to work directly with foreign institutional investors.

The approval takes effect immediately, the Paris-based bank said in a statement yesterday.

The bank said it was one of the first foreign lenders to be granted a bond settlement agent licence for the China Interbank Bond Market (CIBM) in 2016. BNP Paribas Securities Services Hong Kong enables investors to take part, through a special segregated account, in China’s Stock Connect schemes, as well as Bond Connect through its membership of the HKMA Central Moneymarkets Unit.

“This newest QFI licence complements our cross-border product offering and will help to attract even more foreign investment into China’s bond and equity markets, which are fast becoming amongst the most important markets globally,” C G Lai, chief executive, BNP Paribas China Limited, said.