A view of the Hong Kong skyline from the Peak is seen in this May 30, 2007. The China Banking Regulatory Commission will soon relax existing regulations on overseas investments by domestic investors to Hong Kong. [Reuters]

The China Banking Regulatory Commission will soon relax existing regulations on overseas investments by domestic investors, The Standard reported Monday, citing a mainland source.

The Standard, citing the source, said the mainland regulator will soon allow domestic investors to invest about 70 percent of their funds in Hong Kong stocks, up from the current limit of 50 percent, under the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) program.

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Hong Kong is so far the only market approved for overseas investments under the QDII scheme.

The minimum amount of money required for an investor to buy a product under the program will drop to less than 100,000 yuan (US$13,130) and could be as low as 10,000 yuan, the newspaper said.

The new minimum investment represents a dramatic drop from the previous entry fee of 300,000 yuan for a single investment, it said.

There have been discussions to allow trust funds to be included in the scheme, the source told the newspaper, without specifying the parties involved in the talks.

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