CICC to offer overseas investment products

Brokerage China International Capital Corp (CICC) will be the first to push more Chinese cash offshore, after receiving regulatory approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to offer overseas investment products yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported. CICC will sell clients investment products made up of overseas equities under the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor program (QDII), and initially offer clients to invest in shares of Chinese companies trading in Hong Kong and other markets in Asia. The Chinese government has set a goal of making its currency fully convertible under the capital account by 2010. CICC, the country's flagship overseas investment bank, has won mandates to underwrite the initial public offerings of most of China's major state companies in the past.