A joint venture between French asset manager Amundi and the Bank of China’s (BoC) wealth management arm has opened for business after receiving its licence from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC).
The Amundi BoC Wealth Management Company is the first collaboration between Europe’s largest asset manager and the third biggest bank in China. It will also be the first foreign majority-owned company in China permitted to offer wealth management products with Amundi owning a 55% share while BoC Wealth Management holds the remaining 45% stake.
According to the company, it will be mainly focused on public offerings and private placements of wealth management products and other asset management services.
The first products are expected to be launched before the end of the year and they will be aimed at retail investors and primarily BoC customers.
The management team includes executives from both Amundi and BoC and will be led by Liu Huijin and Bao Aili as chair of the board and general manager respectively.
“This new JV will accelerate Amundi’s development strategy in China, a country that we foresee as one of our major markets in the coming decade,” said Yves Perrier, chief executive of Amundi.
BoC chairman Liu Liange added that the launch is “an important manifestation of further opening up the country’s financial industry” and will help to meet the “diversified needs of investors by adding variety to the market entities and financial products”.
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