为什么MSCI指数拒绝纳入中国A股

    中国政府迫切希望国内股市能被纳入那些受全球投资者追捧的股指中，因为这将吸引数十亿海外资金前来购买沪市和深市股票，从而帮助中国政府实现扩大人民币海外影响力的目标。

    不过摩根士丹利资本国际公司（MSCI）在该进行年度回顾后表示，该公司不会将中国A股纳入其新兴市场指数。目前全球追踪MSCI新兴市场指数的资金已达1.7万亿美元。摩根士丹利表示，中国监管机构在向外资开放市场方面做得还不够。这也提醒了中国，即便中国已经开展了金融市场自由化改革，并且即便改革在中国国内意义重大，但在外部看来仍仅仅是量变而非质变。

    这已经是近年来中国第二次被国际知名指数无视了。去年春天，摩根士丹利首次提议在新兴市场指数中增加A股，结果受到了富达（Fidelity）和先锋（Vanguard）等大型基金管理公司的强烈反对，理由是他们认为中国在外资准入上的改革力度还不够。

    因此，中国于去年11月发布了“沪港通”，首次允许外资经由香港直接购买沪市股。今年年初，中国还扩大了外国投资者的购股限额。

    不过摩根士丹利表示，目前中国股市仍然存在一些尚未解决的问题，致使MSCI新兴市场指数不能纳入A股。首先是限额问题，大型外国投资人都觉得他们的每日限额太小了。其次是将资金抽出中国大陆的困难程度，在中国进行资本控制难度很大。再次是围绕持股的技术规则，中国的持股规则不像发达国家市场那样透明，因而常令外国投资者感到战战兢兢。

    MSCI指数是现有新兴市场指数中最权威的一个，但它的影响力并未阻止其他基金公司增持中国股票。比如先锋集团上周表示，它的先锋新兴市场股指基金将增持中国股票。该基金主要追踪MSCI的竞争对手FTSE指数，该指数决定在某些传统指数中纳入A股，初始权重为5%。

    不管怎样，中国最终还是会得偿所愿的。摩根士丹利的声明还表示，如果问题得到解决，A股有可能会于明年纳入其指数。

    对于全球投资者来说，一个不幸的消息是，大热的中国股市在去年狂涨了将近150%，却无法分一杯羹；另外目前中国的经济问题正在堆积。等到全球投资者终于可以进入中国大陆市场分蛋糕时，他们的兴奋感可能也就要消退了。（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎

    Beijing badly wants China’s domestic stocks included in the indexes followed by global investors. It could mean billions more dollars buying yuan-denominated shares in Shanghai and Shenzhen, which helps the government promote its goal of expanding the currency overseas.

    But the country was rejected yesterday by MSCI, whose emerging market indexes have $1.7 trillion tracking them, which said after its annual review it wouldn’t include the mainland A-shares. It said Chinese regulators hadn’t done enough to open their market to foreigners. It’s a reminder to China that even reforms that liberalize its financial markets and seem momentous within the country are considered incremental, at best, by outsiders.

    This is the second time in as many years that China has been spurned by the index maker. Last spring, MSCI first proposed the idea of including A-shares and was met with cries from big fund managers like Fidelity and Vanguard who said China hadn’t passed enough reforms for access.

    So China launched the ‘Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect’ this past November, which allowed foreigners for the first time to buy Shanghai stocks directly via Hong Kong. Earlier in the year it also expanded quotas for foreign investors.

    But MSCI said yesterday there are still enough unresolved problems to avoid including A-shares for now. The first involves those quotas. Big foreign investors feel their daily allotments are too small. The second is the ease of getting money out of mainland China. Capital controls are cumbersome. The third is the technical rules around stock ownership. Foreign investors feel jittery that Chinese regulations aren’t as clear as those in developed markets.

    MSCI is the biggest authority on emerging market indexes, but its influence hasn’t kept other fund companies from adding Chinese shares. Vanguard said last week that its Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund will add Chinese shares. The funds follow FTSE indexes, an MSCI competitor, which decided to include A-shares as an initial 5% weighting in some transitional indexes.

    Beijing will eventually get its wish. MSCI’s statement also said A-shares were “on track for inclusion” in the next year if issues were resolved.

    Unfortunately for global investors, the manic Chinese stock market has risen nearly 150% in the past year and the country’s economic troubles are mounting. By the time investors get to own a slice of China’s mainland market, the excitement could be wearing off.