ICBC Credit Suisse Asset Management Co, China's first fund firm controlled by a bank, may resume a plan to issue a fixed-income fund next month after shelving it due to a state order last year, sources said.
The fund venture, 55 percent owned by Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, has filed an application to the China Securities Regulatory Commission to launch its second mutual fund, which plans to invest in low-risk money-market tools and bonds, they said.
The plan, initiated in June when ICBC Credit Suisse started operations, was halted last year as authorities had asked the fund venture to launch a securities-investment fund first to bolster an ailing stock market, according to the sources.
"Domestic banks have experience and expertise in managing investment in low-risk bonds based on their long-history in asset-management businesses," said Wu Zhiguo, a Guohai Securities analyst. "It's good for ICBC to pursue the plan."
The fund company, also a quarter held by Switzerland's Credit Suisse, raised 4.35 billion yuan (US$539 million) selling units in the stock-type fund and had built up "considerable" positions by end of last year, said Jiang Hui, the fund's manager.
"We haven't sold any stock in the past four months," said Jiang, "We plan to constantly buy chips as we expect the market to take on an upside trend this year."
China's government in April picked ICBC, together with China Construction Bank and Bank of Communications, as the first batch of lenders to set up fund management ventures. BoCom also unveiled a securities fund last year, which raised 4.9 billion yuan.
China's key stock indexes fell to eight-year lows in June but recovered more than 10 percent through the end of last year. The 13 bond-investment funds nationwide posted a more than 8 percent increase in value last year, against a 10 percent decline in the benchmark stock indexes.