UBS a chief player in China’s domestic equity club
By Robert Cookson
Published: January 17 2010 09:31 | Last updated: January 17 2010 09:31
Seven years ago, at a small ceremony in Beijing, Nicole Yuen became the first foreigner to buy shares in China’s dominant A share market.
As head of China equities at UBS, Ms Yuen had been instrumental in helping the Swiss investment bank win approval from regulators to enter the qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) scheme – the only way overseas groups can buy A shares on the mainland.
Since then, she has remained a central figure within this exclusive club, which has expanded to 86 institutions that have been granted a combined total of $16.7bn (£10.2bn, €11.6bn) in investment quotas.
If anyone understands the opportunities and the challenges of the QFII programme, it is Ms Yuen.
Today, UBS has a quota of $800m – bigger than any of its peers. Nonetheless, that figure falls short of the $1bn that Ms Yuen had hoped to acquire by now.
“It is a little bit frustrating when we have been applying every year and we still do not have the quota we would like,” she says. “However, I also understand the other side of the coin, which is that the renminbi is still not a convertible currency.”
The QFII scheme is one of the few official gateways into China’s financial markets, which remain largely closed off to foreign investors. Its development is watched closely by foreign governments and financial groups alike.
Ms Yuen likens the programme to a “baby”, whose “parents” are the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe).
“They don’t always agree how to take care of this child,” she says.
“As the child gets bigger and wants more freedom, the parents seem not to be giving it to them. I think that sums up where we are.”
According to figures released last week, China granted a combined $3.3bn in quotas to foreign institutions in 2009. By contrast, domestic companies were granted $8bn for overseas portfolio investment in the last three months of the year.
One big problem foreign groups have faced over the life of the scheme has been uncertainty over the regulations, which have changed in unexpected directions as the authorities refined the scheme.
Most recently, in October, Safe introduced new rules that banned the “transfer or sale” of quota – a development that sent QFIIs scrambling to their lawyers.
Many big QFIIs make money by renting out a portion of their quota – by transferring usage rights but not ownership – to other institutions. As much as $3bn of quota is rented out under this arrangement to hedge funds, asset managers and other financial institutions, according to estimates from Z-Ben, a fund consultancy based in Shanghai.
Within the industry there is no consensus over what type of quota renting is allowed or not. UBS, unlike most of its peers, has taken a relatively conservative stance and terminated one of the facilities it used to provide clients with access to mainland stocks.
This “QFII facility” – which had been a source of revenues for UBS since 2003 – was an arrangement whereby clients were given exclusive use of a certain amount of quota as and when they wanted it. UBS would buy and sell mainland stocks at the client’s request.
“We took a very serious look at the regulation and thought this may be in conflict,” Ms Yuen says. “Some other banks may take a different interpretation, they may have a slightly different arrangement.”
The bank will continue to offer other forms of access to mainland equities, including through derivatives such as “P-notes”. Ms Yuen believes that the new regulations are not intended to stop QFIIs from using derivatives to support exchange traded funds that track mainland stocks, such as the iShares FTSE/Xinhua A50.
Sacrificing the profits from the QFII facility was deemed to be worth it to eliminate the risk of tarnishing the bank’s reputation with the Chinese authorities.
“There is very transparent reporting to the authorities now about what you do with the quota. They ask for very, very detailed information,” Ms Yuen says. “It’s not something we want to play around with. Disclosure has to be transparent and we want to be clear.”
UBS has had more success than most of its global peers at establishing a presence in China, meaning the costs of falling foul of the authorities would be high.
As head of UBS’ securities business in China, Ms Yuen is responsible for a range of businesses, including a brokerage joint venture (UBS Securities) and an asset management joint venture (UBS SDIC Fund Management).
Ms Yuen’s views over the future of the QFII scheme carry weight because her extensive involvement with the scheme comes with first-hand experience of how mainland regulators make decisions.
In 2003, she became the first overseas banker to be appointed by the CSRC to its 25-member listing committee. Before UBS, she was a partner at law firm Clifford Chance in Hong Kong, having practised in the US, UK and the Netherlands after graduating from Harvard Law School.
Following the announcement of big reforms to the mainland stock market last week, one of the most exciting prospects for QFIIs is the launch of stock index futures later this year.
These products would, for the first time, allow investors to hedge their positions against stock market tumbles.
“We are lobbying very actively for QFIIs to [be able to] come in,” says Ms Yuen, who expects they will be allowed to trade the index futures, albeit under strict controls. “It will allow us to hedge and the participation of QFII will introduce international expertise into that market.”
The other big market reforms – margin trading and securities lending – are unlikely be extended to foreign investors any time soon, she says.
But in spite of the many restrictions that continue to hold back the ambitions of foreign groups, including UBS, Ms Yuen remains a passionate advocate of the scheme.
Foreign investors have had a stabilising effect on China’s markets, she argues, selling when markets overheat and buying when they fall. Meanwhile, she says, their presence has helped inform local investors about global investment practices and spurred the development of the local research industry.
“It’s the most successful experiment China has done to promote foreign investment.
“The effect on the market is far beyond the amount of money we’ve put in.”
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. Print a single copy of this article for personal use. Contact us if you wish to print more to distribute to others.
中国A股市场的首位境外“股民”
7年前，在北京举行的一个小型仪式上，袁淑琴(Nicole Yuen)成为首位能够在中国主要股票市场——A股市场上购买股票的境外人士。
作 为瑞银(UBS)中国证券部主管，袁淑琴帮助这家瑞士投资银行获得中国监管部门批准，取得了合格境外机构投资者(QFII)资格。QFII是境外集团在中 国内地投资A股的唯一途径。
自那时起，袁淑琴一直是这个专属俱乐部的核心人物。如今，这个俱乐部的成员已增加到86家机构，经批准的总投资 额度为167亿美元。
如果说有人能够理解QFII面临的机遇与挑战，那么此人非袁淑琴莫属。
如今，瑞银拥有8亿美元QFII 额度，是同行中最高的。但这并没有达到袁淑琴的目标：她原本希望，到这个时候能够获得10亿美元额度。
“我们每年申请时都会留些遗憾。我们 还没有拿到我们想要的额度。”她表示，“不过，我也理解事情的另一面——人民币还不是可自由兑换的货币。”
中国金融市场大体上仍把外国投资 者关在门外，QFII是他们进入中国金融市场的少数正式途径之一。外国政府和金融集团都在密切关注着QFII的发展。
袁淑琴把QFII比作 一个“婴儿”，“婴儿”的父母是中国证监会(CSRC)和国家外汇管理局(Safe)。
“关于如何照顾孩子，他们并不总是意见一致。”
“孩 子逐渐成长，希望得到更多的自由，但父母似乎还不打算给他自由。我想这可以概括我们所处的现状。”
根据近期发布的数据，2009年中国共批 给境外机构33亿美元投资额度。相比之下，在去年最后3个月，国内企业获批的境外证券投资额度为80亿美元。
在QFII方面，外资集团面临 的一大问题是监管法规的不确定。有关部门在改进QFII机制的过程中，会出其不意地修改相关条例。
最近的一次是在去年10月：外管局出台了 新规定，禁止“转让或出售”QFII额度——此举令QFII机构们急忙寻找律师来商讨对策。
许多大型QFII机构通过向其它机构出租部分额 度——转让使用权而非所有权——赚钱。据上海咨奔商务咨询(Z-Ben)估计，以这种方式向对冲基金、资产管理公司和其它金融机构出租的额度多达30亿美 元。
关于哪种额度租赁方式受到允许、哪种不受允许，业内没有一致的看法。瑞银不同于多数同行，它采取的是相对保守的立场，并终止了一项向客 户提供投资中国内地股市机会的安排。
自2003年以来，这一“QFII安排”一直是瑞银的一项收入来源。该安排按照客户所要求的数额和时 间，给予客户一定QFII额度的独占使用权。瑞银会按照客户要求买卖内地股票。
“我们非常严肃地看待监管，认为这项安排可能与规定相抵 触。”袁淑琴表示，“其他一些银行也许有不同的解读，他们也许有稍微不同的处置。”
瑞银仍将提供参与投资中国内地股市的其它安排，包括“参 与凭证”(P-notes)之类的衍生品。袁淑琴认为，新规之意并不在于阻止QFII机构利用衍生品来扶持追踪内地股市的交易所交易基金(ETF)，如安 硕新华富时A50中国指数基金(iShares FTSE/Xinhua A50)。
瑞信认为，牺牲这一QFII安排的利润是值得的，可以 消除该行给中国有关部门留下不好印象的风险。
“如今，在如何处理额度方面，我们向有关部门的汇报是非常透明的。他们问得非常、非常仔细，” 袁淑琴表示，“在这上面，我们并不想糊弄了事。披露必须是透明的，我们希望做到一清二楚。”
瑞银在中国的业务开展比大多数国际同行都更为成 功，这意味着，它开罪有关部门的代价也会更加高昂。
作为瑞银在华证券业务的主管，袁淑琴要负责许多业务，包括管理一家合资证券公司（瑞银证 券）和一家合资资产管理公司（国投瑞银基金管理公司）。
关于QFII未来的动向，袁淑琴的观点颇具分量。由于参与了大量相关工作，她掌握了 有关中国内地监管部门决策方式的第一手经验。
2003年，袁淑琴成为中国证监会发行审核委员会委员（该委员会共有25名委员），她是获此任 命的首位境外银行家。在加入瑞银之前，她是高伟绅律师事务所(Clifford Chance)香港合伙人。她毕业于哈佛法学院(Harvard Law School)，在美国、英国和荷兰当过执业律师。
近日，中国宣布了内地股市重大改革事项。就QFII而言，最激动人心的前景之一是，中 国将于今年晚些时候推出股指期货。
这些产品将首次允许投资者针对股市波动对冲自己的头寸。
“我们正在积极游说，希望QFII 机构（能够）参与进来，”袁淑琴表示。她预计，QFII机构将获准进行股指期货交易，但会受到严格限制。“它会允许我们对冲，QFII的参与会为该市场带 来国际经验。”
她表示，至于其它重大市场改革举措，如融资融券交易，短期内不太可能向外国投资者延伸。
不过，尽管瑞银等外资 集团的雄心依然受到诸多限制条件的束缚，袁淑琴仍强烈拥护QFII机制。
她认为，外国投资者对于中国市场具有稳定作用。他们在市场过热时卖 出，在下跌时买入。与此同时，她表示，外国投资者的参与，有助于让本地投资者了解国际投资惯例，并促进本地研究行业的发展。
“这是中国在促 进外国投资方面迄今最为成功的实验。”
“它对市场的作用，远不止体现在我们所投资金的数额上。”
译者/何黎
No comments:
Post a Comment