Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission confirmed Wednesday the country will launch an exchange traded funds platform later this year allowing investors access to China’s A-shares markets.
The ETFs being proposed will give Taiwanese fund managers access to stocks traded in Shanghai and Shenzhen, China’s A-shares markets, under the renminbi-qualified foreign institutional investor (RQFII) program.
“The passage of the ETFs is largely contingent on the passage of a trade-services pact between Taiwan and China, which has been held up in Taiwan’s legislature on concerns over its impact on local industry,” Reuters reported.
Currently, China limits foreign investors’ access to A-shares to Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors and Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors. However, the world’s second-largest economy is looking to boost foreign investment and increased access to A-shares is one way of doing that. [A-Shares ETFs Offer Deeper China Access]