The Chinese government may allow individuals to invest directly in foreign markets, a central bank official said today at a conference in Beijing, reports the Xinhua News Agency.

At the moment, only Chinese institutions can invest in overseas companies under the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors (QDII) plan. More than 100 institutions have invested in foreign companies with a combined value of approximately $76.8 billion.

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The central bank is working on a QDII2 that will allow Chinese individuals to trade stocks on foreign bourses and own other assets, according to Dan Wang, a deputy director general at the People's Bank of China. The Bank is also mulling over the possibility of allowing "RMB Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors" (RQDII), which would allow institutions to use the Chinese yuan to invest abroad rather than have to convert into local currency.

TagsQualified Domestic Institutional Investors, yuan, people's bank of china, Dan Wang, foreign investment, QDII