On 20 of October, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Europe) S.A. has received the approval in principle by the Luxembourg regulator CSSF in relation to its first UCITS in Luxembourg investing in China’s onshore bond market. It will be the first UCITS initiated by ICBC (Europe), which not only enables ICBC to be the first Chinese bank tapping European investment fund industry through its European arm, but also signals the key milestone of business transformation and localization of ICBC in the overseas market.
The UCITS to be launched by ICBC (Europe) is the actively managed “China Concept” investment fund which will mainly invest into the China inter-bank bond market and be distributed to the European investors. The initiation of the UCITS will further enrich the RMB product line of ICBC (Europe) and greatly facilitate the private banking and asset management business of ICBC group in the European market. After local registration, the UCITS will also be distributed through the branches of ICBC (Europe) in France, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands.
As the regional hub of ICBC group in Continental European countries, ICBC (Europe) is one of the majors players of cross-boarder RMB business in the European market and provides a variety of RMB products and services including cross-border settlement, deposit and loan, trade finance, RMB FX and Derivatives, offshore RMB bond issuance and RMB asset management, which in total contribute about 35% of its revenues. ICBC (Europe) was awarded “best bank in Luxembourg” by Euromoney in July 2014 as a result of its leading position in RMB business and outstanding performance.
The responsible person of the bank said, ICBC (Europe) will endeavor to provide investment fund products and services through its network around Europe by taking the opportunity of RMB internationalization and leveraging the expertise of the group in RMB business and China onshore bond market.
Por Elena Santiso
Por Funds Society, Madrid