‍The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has announced it will allow more foreign investors to open onshore A-shares securities accounts in another signal of a further opening up of the country's capital markets. 

Chen Jiahe, chief strategist of Cinda Securities, sees the move as a great opportunity for investment. “If you talk to professional investors in New York, London, they do believe that [in] Chinese markets including Hong Kong and A-share, for the moment, good companies here are much cheaper compared to in the US," he said. "It’s really lower valuation done here [compared to valuation in the US]. And the investment opportunity is great here,” Chen said.

Some foreigners living in China are positive on the new measure. One said that “this move will increase portfolio flows into China. [The Chinese government] is continuing to open up the markets and ease regulations.” 

Another foreign resident in Shanghai noted that “this is beneficial for China as it opens up the domestic markets. But, it will also give foreigners an opportunity to invest in a dynamic and huge market like China's. This should be good news for foreigners.”

But challenges remain, according to Chen. “The problem is that many foreign individual investors, in most cases, buy funds [not stock],” he pointed out.

The second problem, he said, is that most Chinese companies publish annual reports in Chinese, which might cause some obstacles for international investors to read and analyze company performances. 

Therefore, Chen forecast that “international Chinese, who can read Chinese and hold international nationality,” may benefit the most from the new move.