© Reuters. The Standard Chartered financial institution brand is seen at their headquarters in London, Britain, July 26, 2022. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/file photograph
By Selena Li
HONG KONG (Reuters) -Standard Chartered has suspended new subscriptions by its shoppers in China into offshore merchandise through a quota-based channel since final week, the Asia-focused financial institution stated in a press release to Reuters.
The London-headquartered financial institution cited “commercial reasons” as its rationalization for the suspension of recent investments underneath the certified home institutional investor (QDII) programme. It didn’t elaborate.
StanChart’s transfer comes amid Beijing’s efforts to stem capital outflows as weaker yuan and a slowing economic system have pushed savers to maneuver belongings offshore.
Launched in 2006, QDII is among the few outbound funding channels certified home and international establishments use to assist Chinese wealth and company shoppers put money into offshore funds, bonds and different structured merchandise.
has confronted renewed depreciation strain in 2024, weighed down by the greenback’s resurgence in gentle of market bets the Federal Reserve may wait longer than beforehand anticipated to start slicing rates of interest.
The yuan has misplaced about 1.4% in opposition to the greenback to date this yr.
Since 2006, StanChart has been awarded a complete QDII quota of $2.8 billion, the third largest amongst international banks solely behind HSBC’s $4.73 billion and Citigroup’s $3.5 billion, in response to the newest knowledge from China’s international trade regulator.
It has not publicly disclosed how a lot of the quotas have been utilised.