Overview
With China's stock market experiencing some of the most volatile conditions ever in the past year, there are clearly stressful times for Chinese asset managers. After hovering just above the 2,000 level for the better part of two years, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index surged by 153 percent in the 11 months to mid-June, then plunged 43 percent over the next two and a half months before stabilizing. The index closed at 3,368.74 on October 22.
The bull market “heightened investor enthusiasm for equity investment products,” says Li Yimei, deputy general manager of China Asset Management Co. The firm returns in second place in the 2015 China 20, Institutional Investor ’s annual ranking of the country’s leading asset managers, with $93.2 billion in assets under management as of March 31.
ChinaAMC “took advantage of favorable market conditions by issuing new products” during the equity boom, Li says, including the MSCI China A-share Exchange-traded Fund in February, the Shanghai Stock Exchange 50 ETF in March and the Shanghai Leading Stocks fund in May. This summer’s market correction, which reflected waning confidence in China’s slowing economy, prompted a quick adjustment. ChinaAMC “changed market strategies to promote low-risk products such as money market funds and bond funds,” says Li, “and promote regular fixed investment, while increasing investor services and training.”
Tianhong Asset Management Co., which sells its massive money market fund Yu'e Bao online through e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, tops the China 20 with assets of $119.3 billion. Bank of Communications Schroder enters the ranking in tenth place after its assets more than quadrupled in the 12 months ended March 31, to $31.2 billion. The firm launched new equity funds in the autumn of 2014; company executives say assets also include for the first time an asset management subsidiary that invests in nonstandard equity and debt products.
How This Ranking Was Compiled
Institutional Investor’s eleventh annual China 20 ranking identifies the country’s top fund managers by assets under management. New York-based Senior Research Editor Jane B. Kenney, with the assistance of Researcher Serina To in Hong Kong, compiled the ranking from a variety of sources, including questionnaires the institutions filled out themselves. II staff refined these data through follow-up e-mails and telephone calls. When official data were unavailable, II obtained figures from websites and other public sources. All figures are in millions of dollars, as of March 31, converted from yuan using the exchange rate on that date. Portfolio totals may not equal assets under management because of currency conversion and rounding.