BEIJING -- The approved quotas of the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) program, a scheme that allows Chinese investors to access foreign assets, totaled $125.72 billion as of Jan 13, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

The QDII quotas were granted to 171 financial institutions, including insurance companies, securities firms, banks, banks' wealth management subsidiaries and trust companies, a file with the administration showed.

China has yet to fully liberalize its capital account, with programs such as the QDII and Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors providing financial institutions with quotas for outbound and inbound investment, respectively.

The country further opened up its domestic capital market to foreign investors in November last year by allowing foreign investment into more areas such as stocks listed on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations, financial futures and private investment funds.