What’s new: Deutsche Bank (China) Co. Ltd. has joined the list of foreign banks that can provide custody services to qualified foreign institutional investors trading stocks listed on the newly launched Beijing Stock Exchange (BSE), according to a Thursday press release by the bank.
The bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bank AG.
Previously, HSBC Bank (China) Co. Ltd. and Citibank (China) Co. Ltd. have provided such services.
The background: Under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor program or its yuan-denominated sibling, the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor program, better known as the QFII/RQFII schemes, investors are required to designate a custodian bank in China to safeguard their assets.
The BSE, which started operating in November, is the third national stock exchange on the Chinese mainland. It focuses on small and midsize enterprises.
Shares of 88 companies are now trading on the bourse, with a total market cap of 210 billion yuan ($33 billion), much lower than the 34 trillion yuan on Shenzhen exchange and 46 trillion yuan on the Shanghai bourse. Both the Shenzhen and Shanghai exchanges have more than 2,000 listed companies.
Contact reporter Zhang Yukun (yukunzhang@caixin.com) and editor Lin Jinbing (jinbinglin@caixin.com)
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