The asset managment unit of China’s ICBC, the largest bank in the world, has signed partnership agreements with Blackrock, GSAM and four Chinese asset managers in a bold move to become a global player.
Through the new strategic cooperation, the bank’s asset management unit in Hong Kong expects to broaden the current range of its products to include investment funds, fund of funds products, cross-border index fund, “Belt and Road” bond investment fund, and products covering Bond Connect and Stock Connect, bank officials said at a media event in Hong Kong.
Officials said the asset management arm aims for HK$100bn ($12.82bn) in AUM by the end of year and HK$300bn within three years. It hopes to rank among the top three Chinese asset managers.
Tan Jiong, senior executive vice president at ICBC, said in a statement that the bank expects to expand its cross-border asset management business to build an “integrated global asset management operational platform” to provide services as a product, sales, investment, development and risk management centre.
The unit has been focusing on Hong Kong and cross-border businesses, and through the partnerships hopes to extend its business to Europe, the US, and Belt and Road countries, such as those in Eastern Europe, a bank spokeswoman said.
ICBC Asset Management (Global), recently renamed from ICBC Asset Managment (Asia), is the bank’s Hong Kong operation. It offers six SFC-registered funds in the SAR with total assets of $27.1m, according to FE.
The bank also has a separate joint venture with Credit Suisse, which targets mainland investors and managed assets of RMB 447.3bn ($67.59bn) as of end-2016, according to data from Cerulli Associates.
Excluding money-market funds, the joint venture became the largest asset manager in China in the second quarter of 2017.
