Jane Chen / Shanghai Daily news

China Construction Bank opened its fund management unit yesterday in Beijing and became the country's third domestic banks offering the fund business, the Oriental Morning Post reported.
The unit will sell its first fund product in mid October, which will mainly invest on the capital market.
Along with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Bank of Communications, CCB was qualified in April to be China's pilot group of banks to operate fund business.  ICBC and Bank of Communications have already offered their first fund products, both mainly investing in stocks.
The CCB fund unit, headquartered in Beijing, has registered a capital of 200 million yuan (US$24.7 million), with CCB controlling 65 percent of the stake, US-based Principal Financial Group holding 25 percent and China Huadian Group taking the remaining 10 percent.
At yesterday's opening ceremony, senior officials with the joint venture seemed confident about the market outlook, referring to its US partner's rich experiences in the fund sector.  Principal Financial is one of the largest pension fund managers in US, they noted.
"We will be exerted to introduce successful fund investment skills from Principal Financial as well as take advantage of CCB and Huadian on the domestic market in a bid to establish a complete and effective investment management system," said Jiang Xianzhou, president of the fund unit.
The unit will later complete its product line by offering funds on bonds, monetary documents and securities, according to its general manager Sun Zhichen.