Three days after awarding qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) status to the Deutsche Bank, China's securities authority granted the license to another banking giant, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. (HSBC) Wednesday.

As the seventh QFII in China, HSBC is allowed to engage in the securities business on the A-share market, the domestic securitiesmarket, the China Securities Regulatory Commission announced.

Besides the Deutsche Bank, the CSRC had previously given the green light to five international investment institutions: UBS Warburg, Normura Securities, Morgan Stanley and Co, International Ltd, Goldman Sachs and Co., and Citigroup Global Markets Ltd.

A total investment line of US$775 million has been granted to the five QFIIs, and the investment quota for the Deutsche Bank is still under examination, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2003)