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China AMC prepares retail investor fund

China AMC, the mainland's largest fund manager, is preparing a fund for retail investors in Hong Kong after it gained regulatory approval last year to operate in the city.

The fund manager, which had about 200 billion yuan (HK$227.48 billion) in assets under management as of 2008, has been hiring analysts and portfolio managers over the past six months to boost its global investment team, Anthony Ho, managing director and deputy chief executive of China Asset Management (Hong Kong), China AMC's Hong Kong subsidiary, said.

'We have launched already two hedge funds for high-net-worth individuals since we set up our office here in Hong Kong last year,' Ho, who was head of institutional investment at Fidelity before joining China AMC, said.

'The next step will be developing products for the retail market.'

The plan is to launch a retail fund with a China and Asia theme in the next 12 months, Ho said.

The firm will hire specialists to focus on the Asian equities market for its global investment team, which has analysts and fund managers based in Beijing, he said. 'We hope to establish ourselves as a top Asian fund house in the next three to five years,' Ho said.

China AMC was one of six mainland fund managers approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission to operate in Hong Kong last year. The fund manager can distribute retail products because it obtained a licence from Hong Kong's financial watchdog, the Securities and Futures Commission.

As the mainland market grows, Ho believes more mainland asset managers will set up offices in Hong Kong, using the city as a platform to lure overseas investors hungry for exposure to the mainland equity market.

Total assets of the mainland's mutual funds are expected to reach 15 trillion yuan by 2020.

'The fund management industry in China has a short history,' Ho said. 'It's growing very quickly.'

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