Hong Kong Monetary Authority Chief Executive Joseph Yam said here Thursday that the proposed expansion in the investment scope for Chinese mainland banks engaging in wealth management for mainland investors will help the country facilitate its capital outflow.

In his latest Viewpoint column published on Thursday, Yam said it is obviously time to expand the scale and variety of the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) schemes after a year's experience.

Yam said he was glad to hear from the China Banking Regulatory Commission Chairman Liu Mingkang earlier this month that the Chinese mainland is considering an expansion in the QDII schemes.

"We certainly hope that the expansion will bring more business to financial intermediaries and activity to the financial markets of Hong Kong, strengthening its status as an international financial center," he said.

Given the persistent and increasing current-account surplus, continued strong capital inflow, rapid accumulation of foreign reserves and increasing difficulty of monetary management, Yam said the best way for the Chinese mainland to address this scenario is to liberalize the capital account, rather than allow a large appreciation in the exchange rate.

In accordance with the spirit of "gradualism," "controllability " and "pro-activity" in reform, capital-account liberalization should be effected through encouraging outflow under a framework of effective regulation, he said.

Yam added the authority stands ready to cooperate with the Chinese mainland authorities in designing the channels to facilitate capital outflow proactively and gradually, while maintaining a high degree of controllability.

Source: Xinhua