Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd launched a new product on Tuesday that allows clients to invest yuan in Hong Kong stocks and bonds. The move by China's biggest lender by assets comes after the government unveiled a plan on May 11 to let banks plough client funds into overseas equities for the first time, under the so-called Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) scheme.
In line with the rules set by the government, ICBC's new fund will invest up to half of its money in Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong and the rest in fixed-income instruments, the bank said in a statement. Also in line with the May 11 rules, clients must invest a minimum of 300,000 yuan ($39,000), limiting the fund in practice to small numbers of well-heeled Chinese.