China OK OFII licenses for State Street and Robeco

SHANGHAI -(Dow Jones)- China has approved Dutch asset management firm Robeco Groep N.V. and U.S. asset management firm State Street Corp. (STT) to invest in the domestic capital market under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor program, an official at the China Securities Regulatory Commission said Thursday. The two new QFII licenses, were granted in May, increasing the number of foreign firms in the program to 56 from 54, said the official, who declined to be named. The official said the QFII quotas for both Robeco, a part of European banking giant Rabobank Group, and State Street haven't been finalized. The QFII program, which was launched in 2003, is the only way foreign investors can trade in China's domestically listed yuan-denominated A shares. In December, the Chinese government tripled foreign companies' overall QFII quota to US$30 billion from US$10 billion.