The firm announced that Zhao Ruobing, senior vice president at the wealth manager has been appointed as head of the department.
Zhao joined Creditease WM in 2008 and has 20 years of experience in the wealth management industry, according to a firm statement. Previously, she held a senior role at Citibank in China. Prior to that, she worked for the wealth management division of Scotiabank in Canada.
FSA sought further details but the firm did not respond in time for publication.
Creditease manages RMB100bn ($14.6bn) in assets for high-net-worth clients inside China, the statement said.
Tang Ning, founder and CEO of Creditease, said in the same statement that the set-up of a dedicated team for overseas Chinese HNWIs is part of the broader five-year “organisational remodeling” plan, which primarily aims to grow the firm into a preferred wealth management brand. The target is affluent Chinese living overseas.
Creditease started off as a peer-to-peer lending platform and their strategic focus was shifted to wealth management in 2016. The firm has wealth management offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and New York. This year, it obtained a European market license and partnered with French asset manager Amundi, FSA reported previously.
Chinese wealth manager expansion
In December, Tang told FSA that the five-year plan ending 2020 is to list the whole group on the New York Stock Exchange. Creditease also has an internet lending platform unit, which was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2015.
Only two other Chinese wealth managers are listed in the US — Jupai Holdings and Noah Holdings. They primarily serve affluent Chinese living outside of the mainland.
Both Jupai and Noah have large mainland operations as well as US offices and are expanding in line with their ambitions.
Aiming to be a global Chinese wealth manager, Noah has rapidly been rapidly expanding outside China. The firm’s asset management unit, Gopher Asset Management, has an on-the-ground presence in California. The firm also has set up offices in Canada and Australia.
In March FSA talked to country head of Canada of Noah, Ivy Zhang, who expects Noah Canada in three years to be providing an integrated wealth management service, which is comprised of wealth transfer and local investment capability.
Additionally, the firm is awaiting regulatory approval for its new Singapore office.
