State Administration of Foreign Exchange
From Taighde
| State Administration of Foreign Exchange | |
|---|---|
| Official Name: | 国家外汇管理局
|
| Country: | China
|
| Description: | Sovereign Wealth Fund
|
| Chairman: | Yi Gang
|
| CEO: | Yi Gang
|
| Inception: | 1972
|
| Assets: | $2,273 billion
|
| Reports | Sovereign Wealth Funds Contact and Information Report |
The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) is an agency under the China Central Bank. SAFE is responsible for managing China large foreign exchange reserves. SAFE is considered to be rather secretive and its investment portfolio is very much kept secret. The current director is Yi Gang.
Some at SAFE were displeased that the China Investment Corporation was created. They felt that SAFE should have been given a boarder mandate rather then creating another agency. The CIC has been quite displeased by the overseas investments SAFE has made. While the CIC and SAFE share some members on the Board of Directors, relations between the two organizations are quite tense.
SAFE has three branches in Singapore , New York and Hong Kong.
Investments
SAFE invests the majority of their funds in fixed-income assets.
SAFE does not have a mandate to significantly invest in overseas companies, but since the creation of the China Investment Corporation, SAFE has just done that. It uses the SAFE Investment Company to make these investments. The first public investments came to light in July 2007, when SAFE invested in BG Group. It was believed at the time, SAFE was just buying the stake for the CIC. However, SAFE has never transferred the stake to the CIC.
SAFE, in January 2008, invested in a series of Australian banks:Australia and New Zealand Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank.
In April 2008, it was announced that the SAFE bought 1.5% in the French oil giant Total. A few weeks later, it was announced that they had taken a stake in BP. SAFE then invested in hundreds of companies buying small stake of 1% to 2%.
The Financial Times reported in March 2009, that SAFE invested up 15% of its assets in riskier assets which included equities and corporate bonds. It believed that SAFE lost as much as $80 billion on the fall of these assets.[1]
SAFE Capital
SAFE Capital is a subsidiary used for overseas investments. According to the Financial Times, the unit capital is estimated to be around $300 billion.[2]
Senior Management
| Yi Gang | Administrator |
| Deng Xianhong | Deputy Administrator |
| Fang Shangpu | Deputy Administrator |
| LI Chao | Deputy Administrator |
| Wang Xiaoyi | Deputy Administrator |
| Zhu Changhong | Chief Investment Officer |
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