The Amundi HK New Generation Asia Pacific Equity Dividend Fund was approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission in late June for sale to mainland retail investors, according to the latest update by the regulator.
Schroders Asian Asset Income Fund received the greenlight from the Chinese regulator a month earlier. Both funds, along with four other funds from BOCI-Prudential and Hang Seng Investments, filed the application in July 2015.
At the same time, Amundi applied for MRF authorisation for its HK Defensive Balanced Fund, also a global multi-asset fund, but it hasn’t yet been approved.
The Amundi HK New Generation Asia Pacific Equity Dividend Fund was launched in July 2013 and currently has $39.5m of assets under management. It aims to outperform the benchmark MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan Index over the cycle with a lower volatility by investing in Asia-Pacific ex Japan equities.
So far a total of eight funds have been allowed to sell onshore, including two from JP Morgan, and one from Schroders, Hang Seng Investments, BOCHK Asset Management, CCB International Zeal Asset Management respectively.
Stewart Aldcroft, Asia-Pacific senior adviser for markets and securities services at Citibank, earlier told FSA that Chinese regulator did not explain the selective approval of certain funds, leading to dissatisfaction among managers waiting in line.
MRF sales driven by mainland investors have improved in May after months of net outflows, while BOCHK’s All Weather China High Yield Bond Fund had already briefly stopped subscriptions after it approached the 50% limit of assets gathered in the mainland, as reported earlier.
The French fund house already has a minority stake in ABC-CA Fund Management, an onshore mutual fund joint-venture with Agricultural Bank of China, the third largest bank in China.
The firm was not immediately available for comments.
Three-year performance of the Amundi HK New Generation Asia Pacific Equity Dividend Fund against its benchmark MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan Index, according to FE.
