ABN Amro to boost Asian assets to $20b

ABN Amro to boost Asian assets to $20b

HONG KONG (Dow Jones): ABN Amro Asset Management has announced
plans to triple assets under management sourced from Asia from
US$7.5 billion to $20 billion by 2005.

Its strategy: expanding into new countries, offering more
products, and hiring more staff.

Japan, and also Taiwan and South Korea, are markets where
Frank Kusse, chief executive for Asia Pacific, sees the most
potential for growth. In June, ABN Amro bought a majority stake
of Taiwanese fund-management group Kwang Hua to increase its
sales in that market; it is currently looking for a partnership
in Korea.

"It is difficult to find reputable players to work with," says
Kusse. "We really want to apply western standards - the question
is if you can do that in Korea." ABN Amro is in serious talks
with one Korean asset manager, he said.

In China, ABN Amro has applied for representative office
status, which Kusse hopes will come through by March or April.

The company also is in talks with a mainland fund management
company on an advisory agreement, and hopes it will come through
by the end of the month. Sealing an advisory agreement paves the
way to a joint venture, which would be allowed once China joins
the World Trade Organization.

One of the new products ABN Amro hopes to launch in Asia is a
behavioral finance fund with a Japanese focus. Behavioral finance
fund managers make investment decisions based on what they
anticipate other investors will do; ABN Amro currently offers a
European-oriented behavioral finance fund.

Certain types of behavior, such as panic selling or buying,
"bring a lot of opportunities to the market," says Solange
Rouschop, Hong Kong-based head of structured asset management and
product development for the group.

In addition, the group wants to raise the number of investment
professionals around the region. In Hong Kong, for example, the
goal is to increase the investment staff to 16 from 11.