Fidelity's Chinese back-office a foreign first

Fidelity's Chinese back-office a foreign first

* Florian Gimbel, Hong Kong and Mure Dickie, Beijing
* May 01, 2007

FIDELITY International has become the first foreign fund management group to launch a back-office operation in China, reflecting the country's rise in pulling power as a financial outsourcing centre.
Fidelity's Asia head Brett Goodin said the planned venture in the northeastern port of Dalian could rival the group's outsourcing operations in India, where it employs about 9000 staff.

Fidelity, which manages $US1.5 billion ($1.81 billion) of assets, is hoping to use the Dalian facility to service its mutual funds and pension business in Japan, where it ranks among the biggest foreign money managers.

"I don't know that this venture will be able to provide all of Fidelity's back-office support for this region, but I do feel that it may be able to provide a high level of support due to the strong systems, operational and linguistic skills that are not all available in India or elsewhere," Mr Goodin said.

Fidelity is following Citigroup, which has recently launched a Dalian-based software and technology centre designed to provide outsourcing services.

Chinese economic planners have for some years been trying to encourage the development of offshoring and outsourcing sectors along the model developed by India. But progress has been slow, with executives saying it can still be difficult to attract and retain qualified staff.

Fidelity's move, which is likely to prompt other fund houses to follow suit, highlights its growing focus on the $US1.2 billion Asian mutual fund market, which accounts for only 6 per cent of global mutual fund assets.

It also signals a growing commitment to China.

The US group is now pinning its hopes on a liberalisation of the tightly regulated market for overseas Chinese investments.

Analysts believe the Chinese regulator will soon allow mainland banking clients to invest overseas in foreign equity funds authorised by Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission, the territory's watchdog.

The new rules, which could be implemented in the second half of this year, would allow foreign groups to tap China's $US2 billion in bank deposits without forming local fund joint ventures.

As well as enjoying good logistics from its coastal location, Dalian is widely considered one of China's most business-friendly and well-managed cities.

Japanese is widely spoken in Dalian, since the city was ruled from Tokyo for four decades.