(Yicai Global) Sept. 7 -- China Securities Regulatory Commission has granted Shanxi Securities Co.'s [SHE:002500] Hong Kong asset management firm a Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor License.

The license refers to overseas investment institutions that the CSRC approves to invest in China's securities markets, they have investment quotas governed by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. Firms applying for the license need to have been running for at least two years and have had securities assets worth at least USD500 million at the end of their last accounting year.

Shanxi Securities International Asset Management Ltd., the Hong Kong-based firm, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shanxi Securities International Financing Holdings Ltd., or SSIF.

Gelin Dahua Futures Hong Kong Ltd., SSIF's predecessor, was a subsidiary of Gelin Dahua Futures Ltd., or GDF, one of China's earliest futures companies which was set up in 2006 to help its parent develop businesses abroad.

Shanxi Securities took over GDF in 2013. Last year, it pumped HKD500 million (USD63.9 million) into gross domestic product and renamed the subsidiary SSIF.