Update | Hang Seng Bank opens Qianhai venture to sell mutual funds to 1.3 billion people

Hang Seng Bank, a unit of HSBC, has opened a mutual fund in Shenzhen’s Qianhai financial district, becoming the first foreign company to respond to a government programme to rebrand the southern Chinese city as a hub for modern services.

Hang Seng will invest 70 per cent of the Hang Seng Qianhai Fund Management Co., with a registered capital of 200 million yuan (HK$233 million). Qianhai Financial Holding Co., the financial arm of the Qianhai city’s regulator owns the remaining 30 per cent.

“This is a milestone of how a Hong Kong fund house, through co-operation with Qianhai authority’s commercial arm, could sell fund products to 1.3 billion population of the whole the country,” Hang Seng’s executive director Andrew Fung said in an interview with the South China Morning Post.

The venture will be applying for permission from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to sell a mutual fund product comprising a mixture of mainland bond and A-shares investment funds.

“I would like to see the fund launched within six months upon getting approval from the CSRC,” Fung said.