ICBC Sets Up Fund Management Company with CSFB
June 9th, 2005The CSRC approved this week a new foreign-invested fund management company (FI-FMC). China agreed to allow foreign investors to take minority stakes in PRC investment banks and fund management companies as a condition of China’s WTO accession, and a number of these ventures have already been established. This, however, is reportedly the first FI-FMC in which the PRC investors include a commercial bank. Generally, China forces securities, insurance and banking firms to stay out of each other’s business, though an increasing number of exceptions to this general rule have been allowed, including this new FI-FMC.
Credit Suisse First Boston will hold 25% of the venture (less than the maximum amount possible under relevant regulations). PRC investors include Industrial Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO).
A report on approval of this new FI-FMC from the China Daily, an English language PRC paper, is here.