Published by Fund Selector Asia – 6th Sep 2018
At least eight foreign managers have received QDLP licences after China revived the programme at the beginning of the year.
[China set to approve 10 onshore licences this year]The QDLP managers are allowed to raise money domestically to invest in offshore traditional and alternative investments, including overseas equity and bond funds, hedge funds and real estate. The target investors are domestic qualified (institutional and high net worth) investors.
Nomura’s mainland entity, Nomura Overseas Investment Fund Management in Shanghai, obtained approval from the Asset Management Association of China (Amac) on 27 August, according to Amac’s database.
The manager was eligible to apply for the QDLP license because it has been running an investment management wholly foreign-owned enterprise (IM WFOE). It was established on 8 January, according to Shanghai Administration for Industry and Commerce (AIC).
The firm declined to provide further information on its QDLP plans.
Separately, UBS Rui Hua Overseas Investment Fund Management in Shanghai, which was set up in April, was granted a QDLP qualification on 28 August, according to Amac records. Chen Zhanglong, who is also managing director at UBS Global Asset Management in Shanghai, is named as the legal representative for the QDLP entity.
UBS Asset Management established the Shanghai entity in 2015, with an initial QDLP quota of $100m. FSA sought more information, but the firm was not able to comment about whether UBS Rui Hua is a renamed entity having the same quota that the firm received in 2015.
UBS AM is also a private fund management (PFM) license holder and the manager of two PFM products that are distributed to onshore professional investors. The firm has a joint venture fund management company in China, UBS SDIC Asset Management, with the state-owned State Development & Investment Corporation.
The QDLP programme was revived at the beginning of 2018 after a three-year halt by the mainland regulator. At least eight additional foreign managers received QDLP licences this year, including Allianz Global Investors, Manulife Asset Management and Mirae Global Investments.
BNP Paribas Asset Management, which is also a license holder, is expected to launch a water-themed equity product via the scheme.
Amac places a six-month deadline for the first QDLP product launch after a firm receives qualification, which means at least nine QDLP products are expected to be launched by February 2019.
Switzerland-based Union Bancaire Privee, which opened an advisory WFOE in 2014, registered for QDLP qualification last month, according to Shanghai’s AIC, and is still waiting for approval from the Amac, AIC records show.
