BlackRock, the world's largest fund company by assets, plans to launch more Hong Kong-domiciled funds as part of a deeper push into Asia.
The move fits with the government's aims of promoting the city as "a world factory" for the funds industry.
"We would like to domicile our funds in Hong Kong because we consider Hong Kong, and Asia as a whole, as very important markets. Hong Kong is a great city to do business in, as it is the most ideal city to enter mainland China," Mark McCombe, Blackrock's Asia-Pacific chairman, told the South China Morning Post in an exclusive interview.
While McCombe did not provide any timing on the new Hong Kong-domiciled funds, he said the firm was planning to launch them and would seek approval from the Securities and Futures Commission.
BlackRock, based in the US but offering fund products globally, has most of its funds domiciled in European cities such as Luxembourg and Dublin.
This is in line with the practice of other international fund houses. Although many use Hong Kong to sell fund products across Asia, most such funds were not domiciled in the city. Of the 1,700 or so authorised funds in the city, only about 300 are Hong Kong-domiciled, partly due to structural and tax issues.
McCombe said companies liked to locate their funds in Dublin or Luxembourg as these funds could be sold globally in many markets. But he said those funds that were tailored for Hong Kong or mainland investors, such as mid-cap Hong Kong stock funds, would be best suited to be in the city.