The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), one of the Big Four commercial banks, has received official approval from the government to set up its own fund management firm, a source said.

 

The joint-venture fund management firm, co-invested by the ABC and Calyon, a corporate and investment banking subsidiary of leading French bank Credit Agricole SA, got the go-ahead from the banking regulator, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), this month, a top official of the bank who declined to be named told China Daily yesterday.

 

"The new firm is yet to be approved by the securities regulator, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC)," he said.

 

Total registered capital of the new joint venture is said to be 100 million yuan, with the ABC holding a controlling stake of 51.33 percent, while Calyon will hold 33.67 percent and Chalco - China's largest aluminum maker - holding 15 percent.

 

Major Chinese commercial banks are actively expanding from traditional lending businesses to other financial services, including fund management.

 

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of Communications and China Construction Bank were the first batch of commercial banks to set up fund management firms last year, with a combined asset value of 70 billion yuan.

 

The ABC was one of the five second-batch commercial lenders expected to set up such firms this year. Others are Bank of China, China Merchants Bank, China Minsheng Banking Corp and Pudong Development Bank.

 

Pudong got the CBRC's approval in January and is waiting for the green light from the CSRC. The lender will hold a 51 percent stake in a joint-venture fund firm, partnering French insurer AXA and Shanghai Dragon Investment Co Ltd, a State-owned asset management company.

 

The booming Chinese stock market is attracting more and more mutual funds to invest in Chinese equities. By the end of 2006, a total of 53 fund management firms were running 321 equity funds with a combined value of 856 billion yuan - a 84 percent growth year-on-year - according to China Galaxy Securities.

 

Mutual fund sales have been on a new high since February as the CSRC resumed the approval of new funds after it suspended processing applications in December to cool down the overheated market and mitigate the risks of excessive cash inflow into the market.

 

(China Daily March 22, 2007)