China Southern Fund Management (CSFM) Co has signed an agreement with US financial market data provider Standard & Poor's to jointly develop overseas investment products under China's Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) scheme, the China Securities Journal reported on Monday.
The companies will develop QDII funds that track the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 stock index, giving mainland investors exposure to a range of US blue chips such as Microsoft Corp, Wal-mart Stores Inc and IBM, the newspaper said.
CSFM chose the S&P 500 because the companies represented by the index account for 75 percent of total market capitalization in the United States, making it one of the best known indexes for world investors, the newspaper said.
Due to the global financial crisis, major world indexes including the S&P 500 have more than halved from their peaks, creating buying opportunities for long-term investors.
China's QDII scheme, launched in 2006, has channelled more than $40 billion of the country's estimated $2 trillion of household savings into overseas financial markets.
