As Chinese investors look to diversify their holdings, Manulife could benefit.
Earlier this month, the Canadian giant became the first financial institution to secure an investment company wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) licence in China, which allows it to launch investment products on the mainland via a wholly-owned local subsidiary.
“We have investment products that are manufactured around the world, allowing people access to global investment opportunities, and we’ll be able to sell them to qualified institutional investors here in China,” CEO Donald Guloien told CNBC at the China Development Forum in Beijing.
Many local investors are trying to internationally diversify, he said, so there’s healthy demand for those products, which will cover everything from equities to fixed income to agriculture.
Even as leading experts worry over China’s economic problems like high levels of leverage and debt, Guloien said he remains confident.
