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BNP Paribas Asset Management obtained Shanghai QDLP qualification and a US$50 million quota on May 9, 2018. The qualification was awarded to its Shanghai wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE), BNP Paribas Overseas Investment Fund Management (Shanghai) Co., Limited—not to BNP Paribas China Limited or BNP Paribas Asset Management Luxembourg.
“QDLP license” is a common shorthand, but BNP Paribas described the approval as a QDLP qualification and quota. The announcement concerned a Shanghai pilot program that allowed approved managers to raise money from eligible mainland Chinese investors for investment in offshore traditional and alternative assets.
What BNP Paribas received
The approved entity was:
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Legal name | BNP Paribas Overseas Investment Fund Management (Shanghai) Co., Limited |
| Chinese name | 法巴海外投资基金管理（上海）有限公司 |
| Structure | Wholly foreign-owned enterprise established by BNP Paribas Asset Management |
| Established | December 2014, according to BNP Paribas |
| Approval | Shanghai QDLP qualification |
| Quota | US$50 million |
| Announcement date | May 9, 2018 |
The US$50 million was a QDLP investment quota. It should not be read as US$50 million in assets under management, money already raised from investors, or capital committed by BNP Paribas.
QDLP stands for Qualified Domestic Limited Partner. In Shanghai’s pilot framework, qualifying managers could raise funds from eligible investors in mainland China and allocate the proceeds to offshore investments. The permitted opportunity set included traditional and alternative assets such as equities and real-estate investment trusts. Contemporaneous coverage also described overseas bond funds, hedge funds and real estate investments as part of the broader QDLP scope.
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Who could invest through the arrangement?
BNP Paribas referred to qualified high-net-worth and institutional investors. This was not an unrestricted retail distribution approval. A QDLP qualification therefore did not mean that any mainland investor could purchase an offshore BNP Paribas fund through an ordinary retail brokerage account.
The arrangement also did not amount to a permanent, nationwide Chinese asset-management license. It was tied to the Shanghai QDLP pilot and to the approved entity, quota and applicable program requirements.
The planned ESG and water investment product
BNP Paribas said it intended to use the quota to offer an ESG-related product to mainland Chinese investors. The firm stated that it was the first global fund manager with a QDLP quota to offer a fund geared toward ESG investments.
That wording should be attributed to BNP Paribas rather than presented as an independently verified regulatory ranking. The available announcement supports the company’s claim, but it does not provide a regulator-maintained comparison proving that no other QDLP manager had offered an ESG product earlier.
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Industry reporting at the time identified the proposed strategy as a global equity product focused on water-related companies, with investment management by Impax Asset Management. A later industry compilation listed the product as 法巴水资源海外投资私募基金, approximately “BNP Paribas Water Resources Overseas Private Fund,” and gave a reported product registration date of February 14, 2019. That date comes from a secondary compilation, not a current official fund filing.
How the quota fit into Shanghai’s QDLP program
The award came as Shanghai expanded the size of its overall QDLP program. Contemporaneous reporting said the city increased its aggregate QDLP quota from US$2 billion to US$5 billion in late April 2018.
For asset managers, the program provided a route into China’s onshore wealth-management market without simply treating an overseas fund as a normal retail product. The manager needed an approved local structure and a quota, while investors had to meet the relevant eligibility requirements.
QDLP was not the same as RQFII
BNP Paribas had other China-related qualifications and investments, but they should not be combined with the 2018 QDLP award.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute- QDLP: enabled an approved Shanghai structure to raise money from eligible mainland investors for offshore investments.
- RQFII: was a separate inbound-investment regime allowing qualified offshore institutions to invest in China’s domestic securities markets. BNP Paribas Asset Management said it obtained one of France and the eurozone’s first RQFII qualifications in September 2014, followed by qualifications in Paris, Hong Kong and Korea.
- HFT Investment Management: BNP Paribas said it had held a 49% stake in the Chinese joint venture since 2003. HFT was a separate onshore asset-management business and was not the Shanghai WFOE that received the QDLP qualification.
These distinctions matter. The QDLP approval did not establish that BNP Paribas received a public-fund management license, and it did not turn the Shanghai WFOE into the same business as BNP Paribas China Limited or HFT.
What is known about the current status?
The original approval should be treated as a historical 2018 event unless current regulatory evidence confirms otherwise.
BNP Paribas’s current China materials still identify the Shanghai company as a wholly owned subsidiary of BNP Paribas Asset Management Asia Limited and state that it obtained QDLP qualification in 2018. BNP Paribas’s 2024 information-disclosure report also lists the company as a Shanghai asset-management entity and reports paid-in capital of €7 million at the end of 2024.
However, reporting that cited public records of the Asset Management Association of China said the company’s private-fund-manager registration was voluntarily cancelled on March 24, 2022. The available evidence does not establish that the original US$50 million quota remains active, that BNP Paribas is currently operating the same QDLP private-fund business, or that the water-related fund remains open to investors.
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Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Practical reading: the evidence confirms the 2018 qualification, quota and proposed ESG strategy. It does not confirm current product availability, current quota capacity or an invitation for investors to buy the original fund.
What the 2018 announcement did—and did not—say
| Supported by the announcement | Not established by the announcement |
|---|---|
| The Shanghai WFOE obtained QDLP qualification. | That BNP Paribas received a permanent nationwide asset-management license. |
| The WFOE received a US$50 million quota. | That US$50 million had already been raised or invested. |
| The program targeted eligible high-net-worth and institutional investors. | That the product was freely available to unrestricted retail investors. |
| The intended product had an ESG focus. | That BNP Paribas’s “first ESG fund” claim was independently proven. |
| The intended strategy related to offshore investment. | That the quota or original water fund remains active today. |
The primary announcement is available from BNP Paribas China. Current corporate information appears in BNP Paribas’s China contact materials and its 2024 information-disclosure report.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.FAQ
Did BNP Paribas receive a QDLP license in China?
BNP Paribas Asset Management’s Shanghai WFOE obtained QDLP qualification and a US$50 million QDLP quota on May 9, 2018. “License” is shorthand; the company’s announcement used the terms qualification and quota.
Which BNP Paribas entity received the QDLP qualification?
The recipient was BNP Paribas Overseas Investment Fund Management (Shanghai) Co., Limited, 法巴海外投资基金管理（上海）有限公司. It was not BNP Paribas China Limited or BNP Paribas Asset Management Luxembourg.
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What could the QDLP quota be used for?
The Shanghai QDLP program allowed approved managers to raise funds from eligible mainland Chinese investors and invest them in offshore traditional and alternative assets, including equities and real-estate investment trusts.
Was the QDLP product available to ordinary retail investors?
BNP Paribas described the intended investors as qualified high-net-worth and institutional investors. The announcement did not describe unrestricted retail distribution.
What was BNP Paribas’s planned QDLP investment product?
BNP Paribas said it planned an ESG-related product. Industry reporting described it as a global equity strategy focused on water-related companies and managed by Impax Asset Management.
Is the US$50 million QDLP quota still active?
That has not been verified from the available evidence. BNP Paribas’s Shanghai entity remains in current company materials, but reporting said its private-fund-manager registration was voluntarily cancelled on March 24, 2022. The original quota’s current status should not be assumed.
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BNP Paribas Asset Management did obtain Shanghai QDLP qualification and a US$50 million quota in 2018 through its Shanghai WFOE. The approval created a route to offer offshore traditional and alternative investments to eligible mainland Chinese investors, and BNP Paribas planned to use it for an ESG-focused water strategy. It was not a permanent nationwide license, a public-fund license or an unrestricted retail authorization—and the current status of the original quota and product is not established.
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