United Overseas Bank Ltd, the second-largest lender in Singapore, said today that its asset management unit has obtained regulatory approval to establish a joint venture fund management firm in China with China Ping An Trust & Investment Co Ltd and Sanya Yingwan Tourism Co Ltd, sources reported.
 
China Ping An Trust, a subsidiary of the country's second-largest insurer, Ping An Insurance (Group) Co<601318><2318>, will hold a 64% stake in the JV, while UOB's assets management unit will take a 25% stake.
 
Hainan Province-based Sanya Yingwan will own the remaining 11% stake.
 
UOB, which entered the Chinese market in 1984, set up a locally incorporated bank, UOB (China), in December 2007. The China unit, based in Shanghai with a registered capital of RMB 3 billion, currently has eight branches and two sub-branches in the country.