Malaysia welcomes more listings by Chinese firms

9/9/2010 — Sina News
Malaysia’s Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai in a six day official visit to China recently with ECM Libra staff said Malaysia welcomes more listings by Chinese firms.
He said, China is one of the largest trading partners of Malaysia, and Malaysia is China’s seventh largest trading partner. Donald Lim also visited Founder Group during the official visit.
Lim said there are four China companies currently listed on the stock exchange. They are investing in high-technology, medical and electronics products. Three more companies are set to be listed in Bursa Malaysia.
He said Malaysia with 28mil population is located at the centre of South East Asia which has a population of 600mil. He hopes Chinese companies will make Malaysia their second manufacturing base to tap into the SEA market.
Recently, the China Banking Regulatory Commission and Malaysia’s Securities Commission signed an agreement to expand Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) program to Malaysia. With the expansion, banks will be allowed to invest in the Malaysia’s capital market for their wealth management clients.
Lim said he hopes China will open up more QFII for Malaysian financial institutions. Currently only Bank Negara has qualified foreign institutional investor status with license to invest in China. Looking at the huge potential investment between both countries, he urged China to approve more financial institutions from Malaysia as QFII.
Meanwhile, the trade between China and Malaysia is seeing a consistent increase recently.  Malaysia’s statistic showed the export growth at the rate of 137.3%, 38.6%, 28%, 51.2%, 28.7% and 28% from Jan-June this year.
According to the statistics from customs, Malaysia’s export to China stood at USD 23.45bil at first half of this year, up 85.3% compared to last year’s. In 2009, the total trade of both countries registered at USD51.98b. Malaysia is China’s largest trading partner in ASEAN.
In the latest development, Malaysia’s ECERDC will lead a delegation to 14th CIFIT in Xiamen, China, from Sept 8 to Sept 11 to woo Chinese investors.  It is believed that with the effort push by both countries government, the tie between Malaysian and Chinese will become closer.