QFII quota expanded to $150 billion

The top securities regulator, along with the central bank and the foreign exchange management institution, announced on Friday an expanded quota for qualified foreign institutional investors, or QFII, to $150 billion from $80 billion.

"The current investment situation is stable", and an increasing number of investors have expressed willingness to expand the quota, a spokesman for the China Securities Regulatory Commission said.

The People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange allowed the QFII quota to increase to $80 billion in April 2012, up from the original $30 billion when the program first set up in 2002.

In the meantime, the pilot program for renminbi-QFII, or RQFII, will operate in Singapore and London, after Hong Kong and Taiwan have joined the plan, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said.

The quota for RQFII was lifted to 270 billion yuan ($44 billion) in November.