UBS plans to invest US$200m more in China
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-11 08:32

UBS AG plans to apply to invest US$200 million more in China’s fledgling securities markets and is exploring asset management or brokerage ventures to tap some US$1.3 trillion in personal savings, a senior executive said.

The Swiss bank already has approval to invest US$600 million in Chinese equity and debt under a landmark scheme to let foreigners into capital markets.

Still, Nicole Yuen, the bank’s Hong Kong-based China equities chief, reckons UBS has not even begun to satisfy an enormous appetite for mainland stocks.

Despite a persistent market slump, Ms Yuen said demand from UBS’ foreign clients amounted to two to three times the extra $200 million investment quota she wanted from foreign exchange regulators. “We get shouted at when we tell people to buy something, and we can’t buy it for them because we have no more quota,” said Ms Yuen, who is a member of an influential committee that approves mainland Chinese IPOs.

“The current regulation restricts each QFII to US$800 million, so we’re only applying for US$200 million more to get us to the maximum. And then, of course, we try to move the maximum” higher, she said. China’s yuan-denominated A-share bourse, which rivals Australia and Hong Kong as Asia’s second-largest after Japan, was off-limits to foreign investors until Beijing launched its QFII (Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor) programme in 2002.

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