In a long expected move China's Social Security Fund has finally cleared all the hurdles necessary to allow it to invest overseas.

The National Council for the Social Security Fund opened an account on the Hong Kong stock exchange's clearing system on Monday--a move which allows the pension fund to invest in offshore stock markets.

The fund provides pensions to retired people who pay a portion of their salaries into the scheme while they're working.

"The opening of the account shows that the pension fund has got all the necessary approval from the government paving the way for them to make investments on the Hong Kong stock market," said Zhao Xijun, a professor of finance at Renmin University of China.

"Legally speaking it can invest in the Hong Kong stock market immediately but when it'll actually make that first move depends on market conditions," said an anonymous official from the pension fund. "It's the first major step for us in terms of our overseas investment plans," added the official.

The massive welfare fund has long been seeking to expand its investment options in a bid to raise returns and diversify its portfolio. Currently the pension fund invests mainly in bank deposits, domestic bonds, funds and stocks but it has also gradually expanded into other areas.

For example it invested 10 billion yuan (US$1.24 billion) in the Bank of Communications Ltd.(BOCOM), the country's fifth-largest lender in 2004, becoming its third largest shareholder.

And it bought a 3.9 percent stake in Bank of China (BOC), the nation's second-biggest lender, for 10 billion yuan (US$1.24 billion) earlier this month.

It's reported that the welfare fund is in talks with China's largest lender, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), to invest up to 10 billion yuan (US$1.24 billion).

The welfare fund has also been involved in infrastructure projects agreeing last year to invest three billion yuan (US$307 million) with the Ministry of Railways in the form of a trust investment.

The Corporate Investor Participant (IP) Account that the welfare fund opened on Monday in Hong Kong will allow the state-run pension fund to hold state-owned and Hong Kong-traded shares, according to Hong Kong rules.

State shareholders of overseas-listed Chinese companies are required to contribute 10 percent of the proceeds from stock sales to the social security fund according to a rule issued by the State Council.

Whether the much-anticipated offshore investment will turn out to be a boom or a drain on the pension fund resources is largely dependent on how the fund manages approach risk, say the experts.

"Allowing the welfare fund to invest overseas could enable it to diversify its investment portfolio and therefore help spread any risk," said Zhao, the finance professor. "Moving into the overseas market, however, also poses challenges for pension fund managers as the risks will also be higher," he added.

The social security fund, set up in 2000, currently has 207.9 billion yuan (US$25.9 billion) of assets under its management.

(China Daily March 22, 2006)