JPMorgan China fund JV eyes foreign clients

China International Fund Management Co Chief Executive Officer Mandy Wang speaks during the Reuters China Summit in Shanghai, September 2, 2009.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - JPMorgan's (JPM.N) China fund venture aims to triple its assets under management in five years and plans to start managing overseas investors' money as soon as this year, a senior executive said, potentially challenging foreign asset managers such as Martin Currie.

China International Fund Management Co initially plans to raise funds from overseas investors through foreign partner JPMorgan Asset Management UK, and invest the money in China under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) scheme, Chief Executive Officer Mandy Wang said at the China Investment Summit on Wednesday.

If the proposal gets regulatory approval, China International could become the first China-based fund house to receive management fees from foreigners investing in yuan-denominated A shares. Currently, QFII money is managed by foreign firms such as Martin Currie and UBS (UBSN.VX), with domestic fund houses only providing advisory services.

"Most QFII managers are based in places like Hong Kong or London, and they don't have enough people on the ground in China," Wang said at the summit, held at the Reuters office in Shanghai.

"China has great market potential, as well as a growing number of excellent researchers. We hope that we could start this business this year."

Five-year-old China International, jointly established by JPMorgan Asset Management and Shanghai International Trust Corp, which is Shanghai government-owned, is China's 10th biggest fund-management firm with 60.25 billion yuan ($8.82 billion) of assets under management as of June 30, according to Shanghai-based fund consultancy Z-Ben Advisors.

($1=6.830 Yuan)

(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Edmund Klamann; Editing by Ken Wills)