The foreign exchange regulator said Thursday it granted quotas to Yale University and AMP Capital Investors Ltd. to invest in the domestic capital market.

Yale University received a quota of US$50 million Aug. 1 under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) program, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said in a statement on its Web site.

AMP Capital Investors Ltd. received a US$200 million QFII quota on the same day, the regulator said.

Yale University has been authorized to set up a yuan-denominated account for its investment at HSBC Holdings, and AMP Capital Investors has been authorized to open an account at China Construction Bank Corp. under the name of AMP Capital's China Growth Fund, the regulator said.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission also said Thursday it had approved three new foreign institutions to invest in the domestic capital market.

The three institutions are: Stanford University, United Overseas Bank Ltd. and General Electric Co.'s GE Asset Management Inc. No details on their investment quotas were immediately disclosed.

China launched the QFII program in the middle of 2003 to introduce foreign funds into the domestic capital market as part of efforts to liberalize its capital account.

By the end of 2005, China had approved 31 QFIIs to invest a total of US$5.645 billion in yuan-denominated shares and bonds, according to data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.