ChinaAMC to recruit a full QDII team in HK

China Asset Management (ChinaAMC), the leading fund house in China, has completed the renovation of its branch office in Bank of China Tower and is ready to open -- once it has filled the floor space with 20 or so investment staff. This is the second China fund house to open an office in Hong Kong after China Southern Fund Management set up in Exchange Square last July.

Right now, portfolio manager Tian Gan is sitting alone in the ChinaAMC office, poring over CVs and market data in the middle of a large empty space. James Qiang, senior manager responsible for international business visiting from ChinaAMC's Beijing office, says except for key management positions, the fund house is ready to hire locally.

This is great news for headhunters and job applicants who have been affected by the current hiring freeze imposed by most international and local houses.

On the investment side, ChinaAMC will fill positions in research, investment management, trading, and compliance from the local talent pool. While on the business development side, QFII sales will initially be covered by Beijing, says Qiang. ChinaAMC's international team is headed by John Li and includes business director Pearl Chen and Qiang himself.

With more fund houses on the way, including E-fund and Harvest which have recently received local licenses from the Hong Kong Securities & Futures Commission, business in booming in the sector, according to a headhunter specialising in the QDII niche.

However, even with an unprecedented wave of 'sea turtles' (Chinese who had spent the earlier decade roaming Wall Street and The Square Mile) returning to China, she says there is still a finite pool of mainland Chinese that match the fund houses' requirements.

Qiang says ChinaAMC is confident that things will improve for QFII businesses this year and the fund house has been able to negotiate a number of mandates with well-respected names. The firm is mainly targeting overseas pension and insurance investors.

Interest from the Middle Eastern and the sovereign wealth fund sector is positive but so far lukewarm. Business from foreign university endowment funds -- a key sector receiving QFII approvals from the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange -- is close to non-existent as more universities are tapping into their own alumni network in their search for investment managers.