UPDATE 1-China raises foreign institutional investor quota by $3 bln in Feb

 (Updates to include context, details of new allocation) 
    BEIJING/HONG KONG, Feb 28 (Reuters) - China granted nearly 
$3 billion in fresh quotas to licensed overseas institutional 
investors in February, data released on Friday by the State 
Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) showed.   
    A sum of $900 million was issued under the 
dollar-denominated Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor 
(QFII) programme, with 12.6 billion yuan ($2.06 billion) issued 
under the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor 
(RQFII) programme. 
    This takes the total quotas issued under the QFII programme 
to $52.3 billion as of Feb. 28 from $51.4 billion at the end of 
December, and to 180.4 billion yuan ($29.44 billion) from 167.8 
billion yuan under the RQFII programme, according to SAFE data. 
    Fidelity and Goldman Sachs Asset Management each received an 
additional $100 million in QFII quotas. They now have $400 
million and $600 million in total, respectively.  
    CSOP Asset Management, which in January announced the launch 
of the first RQFII exchange-traded fund (ETF) listed in London, 
received 1 billion yuan in fresh RQFII quotas in February. Its 
total allotment is the largest in the scheme and now stands at 
35.1 billion yuan. 
    Institutional investors need to apply for a licence from the 
securities regulator to seek investment quotas from the foreign 
exchange regulator.  
    According to data released on Feb. 17, the Monetary 
Authority of Macau was among seven new QFII licences the China 
Securities Regulatory Commission granted in January, raising the 
total to 258.  
    Five RQFII licenses were issued in January, bringing the 
total to 48.  
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    For a graphic on China's QFII approvals, click:  
    http://link.reuters.com/fyp24v 
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($1 = 6.1284 Chinese yuan) 
 
 (Reporting by Kevin Yao in BEIJING and Clement Tan in HONG 
KONG; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) 
 ((clement.tan@thomsonreuters.com)(+852 2843-6392)(Reuters 
Messaging: clement.tan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: CHINA INVESTMENT/QFII