The ETF is sponsored by BOC International and started trading on Friday on the China Europe International Exchange, a Frankfurt-based joint venture between Deutsche Boerse and two Chinese exchanges, BOCI said in the statement.

"It boosts the opening up of China’s capital market and renminbi (yuan) internationalization, opening a new chapter in our overseas business development," Li Tong, chief executive officer of BOCI, said.

Beijing is trying to improve international perceptions of its financial openness in the run-up to a meeting of the International Monetary Fund to decide whether to include the yuan in its basket of reserve currencies, which would provide a boost to the currency's global status.

(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by Jason Neely)