appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Summer Zhen

Alibaba chairman Jack Ma-backed Yunfeng Financial Group, which is leading the US$1.7 billion acquisition of the Asian unit of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance, said it won’t complete the deal until the third quarter of 2018 due to the complex approval process involved.
“We hope to complete the transaction by this time next year, depending on shareholder and regulatory approval,” Li Ting, Yunfeng Financial’s chief executive told the South China Morning Post. “This is quite a long process.”
According to Li, the deal announced in August is pending a number of approvals, including shareholder approvals of the acquisition and Whitewash Waiver and approvals by Hong Kong Insurance Authority, the The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority, Monetary Authority of Macao and other bodies.
Hong Kong-based Yunfeng will own 60 per cent of MassMutual Asia. The rest will be owned by other investors such as Ant Financial Services, another affiliate of Alibaba, as well as Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Private, and Chinese internet firm, Sina Corp.
Yunfeng, formally the brokerage Reorient Group, has transformed itself into one of the city’s leading financial technology firms followed investment from Yunfeng Capital, a private equity firm set up by Ma, the chairman of Alibaba, and Chinese entrepreneur David Yu.

Li said the company had already obtained most licences they want from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) including Type 1, 4, 6 and 9, with “insurance-related licences the only one left to build our financial ecosystem”.
Once the deal is completed, Li said Yunfeng plans to put standard insurance products – such as medical – on its platform for online sales, as well as creating better tools for thousands of agents to sell the complicated life insurance products.
Yunfeng shook up the wealth management market in April this year by launching its robo advisor “Youyu Wealth”, a mobile app which helps select funds and offers other investment advice for retail Chinese and Hong Kong investors, looking to invest as little as US$80 for a single fund, and US$4,000 for a portfolio. It claims transaction fees are a fifth of traditional channels.
Li said the company is not a “market disrupter” but an “effective supplement”, as they offer services to the masses which are not the target of traditional banks.
Its robo adviser has so far signed partnerships with 15 asset managers including investment giants BlackRock, Pimco and AXA, and there are more than 300 mutual funds available on its platform.
But Li declined to disclose its actual number of users as the company is still in what she called a “rapid growth period”.
Many observers see Hong Kong as lagging behind other Asian regions such as Singapore and mainland China in the financial technology (fintech) revolution.
Li said Yunfeng has been working with the SFC and Hong Kong stock exchange (HKEX) in providing advice on fintech development and improving investor education.
Most recently it jointly organised a virtual stock competition with HKEX launched last week.
“It will be a long education process,” Li added, “but we hope to play a leading role in promoting fintech.”
Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post


Chinese banks, Ant International push instant cross-border digital yuan transfers

For China’s hi-tech IPOs, it’s Hong Kong vs the mainland – but how much does it matter?

Forms Syntron draws Hong Kong’s next-gen tycoons in HK$940 million IPO

Hysan courts fintech office portfolio as ZA Bank commits to new Causeway Bay headquarters

Fintech

Jack Ma-backed Yunfeng Financial expects to take at least a year to complete US$1.7b MassMutual’s Asian unit acquisition

Li Ting, Yunfeng Financial’s chief executive officer. Photo: David Wong, SCMP

Li Ting, Chief Executive Officer of YunFeng Financial Group, at One Exchange Square in Central. 16OCT17 SCMP / David Wong

Jack Ma-backed Yunfeng Financial buys Asia unit of MassMutual for US$1.7 billion

Li Ting, Executive Director and CEO of Yunfeng Financial, attends Yunfeng Financial Robo-Advisor of the Future Press Conference in Central in June 2017. Yunfeng bought the Asian unit of MassMutual. Photo: David Wong

(170623) -- DETROIT, June 23, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Jack Ma, the founder and chairman of the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, receives interviews during the two-day session with owners of U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises, in Detroit, the United States, June 21, 2017. Air Traffic was jammed and hotels were full in the U.S. city of Detroit on Monday when more than 3,000 business representatives flocked in for the Gateway 17 conference, Aibaba's biggest-ever public event, in the United States. (Xinhua/Wang Ping) (gj)

Business

Property

Hong Kong & China

Companies

Banking & Finance

Money

Stock Talk

Wealth

Markets & Investing

Investment Products

China Business

Yunfeng says its YouYu Robo Advisor has so far signed partnerships with 15 asset managers including investment giants BlackRock, Pimco and AXA


Jack Ma

Insurance

InsuTech

Jack Ma-backed Yunfeng Financial expects to take at least a year to complete US$1.7b MassMutual’s Asian unit acquisition

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Yunfeng says its YouYu Robo Advisor has so far signed partnerships with 15 asset managers including investment giants BlackRock, Pimco and AXA

Yunfeng says its YouYu Robo Advisor has so far signed partnerships with 15 asset managers including investment giants BlackRock, Pimco and AXA