"Due to ongoing reform and rapid economic development, a large asset management market has come into being. Agencies and individuals wanted effective external management of their property," said Zhou Xiaoming, executive director of the Trust and Fund Institution of the People's University of China.

The value of assets that private asset management agencies handled had reached 700 billion yuan (US$87 billion), he said.

Asset management could widen investment channels and promote a stable and healthy development of the asset market, he added.

Zhou also called for a stricter admittance system and clearer rules for China's asset management market.

(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2002)