China approves new national asset management company

BEIJING - Chinese regulator has greenlighted a new national asset management company (AMC), the first approval since 1999 when the country set up four AMCs to deal with distressed assets of State-owned banks.

Beijing-based Jiantou Citic Asset Management Co Ltd will be transformed into a financial AMC and renamed as China Galaxy Asset Management Co Ltd, according to a statement by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

The transformation needs to be completed within six months of the approval, which was dated March 5, the statement said. Financial businesses are not allowed during the transition period.

Currently, State-owned investment company Central Huijin Investment Ltd is the largest shareholder, owning 70 percent of Jiantou Citic, while Citic Securities Co Ltd owns the remaining 30 percent.

In 1999, China set up four asset management companies, Cinda, Huarong, Great Wall and Orient, to deal with the toxic assets of the country's four big State-owned banks in a bid to help them transform into market-oriented financial institutions.

The four companies finished the State-assigned task of dealing with the toxic assets in 2006, and have since developed into financial groups involving fields including banking, trusts and insurance.