In a long expected move China's Social Security Fund has finally
cleared all the hurdles necessary to allow it to invest
overseas.
The National Council for
the Social Security Fund opened an account on the Hong Kong
stock exchange's clearing system on Monday--a move which allows the
pension fund to invest in offshore stock markets.
The fund provides pensions to retired people who pay a portion
of their salaries into the scheme while they're working.
"The opening of the account shows that the pension fund has got
all the necessary approval from the government paving the way for
them to make investments on the Hong Kong stock market," said Zhao
Xijun, a professor of finance at Renmin University of
China.
"Legally speaking it can invest in the Hong Kong stock market
immediately but when it'll actually make that first move depends on
market conditions," said an anonymous official from the pension
fund. "It's the first major step for us in terms of our overseas
investment plans," added the official.
The massive welfare fund has long been seeking to expand its
investment options in a bid to raise returns and diversify its
portfolio. Currently the pension fund invests mainly in bank
deposits, domestic bonds, funds and stocks but it has also
gradually expanded into other areas.
For example it invested 10 billion yuan (US$1.24 billion) in the
Bank of Communications Ltd.(BOCOM), the
country's fifth-largest lender in 2004, becoming its third largest
shareholder.
And it bought a 3.9 percent stake in Bank of China (BOC),
the nation's second-biggest lender, for 10 billion yuan (US$1.24
billion) earlier this month.
It's reported that the welfare fund is in talks with China's
largest lender, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), to invest up
to 10 billion yuan (US$1.24 billion).
The welfare fund has also been involved in infrastructure
projects agreeing last year to invest three billion yuan (US$307
million) with the Ministry of Railways in the form of a trust
investment.
The Corporate Investor Participant (IP) Account that the welfare
fund opened on Monday in Hong Kong will allow the state-run pension
fund to hold state-owned and Hong Kong-traded shares, according to
Hong Kong rules.
State shareholders of overseas-listed Chinese companies are
required to contribute 10 percent of the proceeds from stock sales
to the social security fund according to a rule issued by the State
Council.
Whether the much-anticipated offshore investment will turn out
to be a boom or a drain on the pension fund resources is largely
dependent on how the fund manages approach risk, say the
experts.
"Allowing the welfare fund to invest overseas could enable it to
diversify its investment portfolio and therefore help spread any
risk," said Zhao, the finance professor. "Moving into the overseas
market, however, also poses challenges for pension fund managers as
the risks will also be higher," he added.
The social security fund, set up in 2000, currently has 207.9
billion yuan (US$25.9 billion) of assets under its management.
(China Daily March 22, 2006)