Goldman Sachs has been approved by the Chinese securities regulator to invest in China's Class-A share market on Sunday under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor scheme. It is the fifth foreign investor to get the license since the scheme was unveiled in November last year.

"We have not determined how much investment quota we should apply for. The work is well under way," said Mei Zhang, executive director of Goldman Sachs.

A minimum investment quota required by the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange is US$50 million.

Zhang also disclosed Goldman Sachs has named HSBC to provide the custodian service and China Galaxy Securities Co Ltd as its local broker, through which buying and selling Class-A shares can be conducted.

In November last year, the securities regulatory body and the People's Bank of China, the central bank, jointly announced the QFII program that permits foreign investors to access the country's US$160 billion A share market.

At the end of May, UBS AG and Nomura Holdings Inc were approved as the first batch of QFIIs. Last month, Morgan Stanley Co International Ltd and Citigroup Global Transac-tion Services also received the regulatory go-ahead.