BEIJING, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's banking regulator is likely to permit the banks' qualified domestic institutional investor (QDII) units to invest in U.S. and European stocks markets, Shanghai Securities News reported on Friday.

    The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) was mulling over whether to allow the banks' QDII units to invest in other mature markets besides Hong Kong, the newspaper quoted Li Fu'an, head of CBRC's Innovation Department, as saying.

    The move was expected to be one of the latest efforts by China to expand investment channels and disperse excess liquidity that have prompted domestic stock markets to soar despite recent correction measures.

    In May, the banks received regulatory approval for QDII investment in the Hong Kong stock market. It was the first time they were allowed to invest in overseas stocks rather than in fixed-return products only.

    The banks were restricted to investing their QDII products in equities markets whose regulators had signed memorandums of understanding with China on trusted overseas wealth management business.

    The CBRC signed such a memorandum with its U.S. counterpart in the second half of the year.

    In all, 21 domestic and foreign banks have received a total of 16.1 billion U.S. dollars in QDII investment quota by the end of October, Li told a Beijing forum on Thursday.