BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has put off the launch of an exchange traded fund that invests in Chinese bonds, amid growing tensions between Washington and Beijing and a reversal in the gap between Chinese and US yields, reports the Financial Times. Two people familiar with the decision said BlackRock had “indefinitely” shelved the ETF, which had secured regulatory approval and was scheduled for release in the US in the second quarter of this year.
One of the people said the move was made in part because of concerns about a backlash in Washington against bankrolling the Chinese government with US capital. “That is too much of a political risk,” he said. BlackRock declined to comment on what it described as “market speculation.”
The suspension of the ETF underscores the challenges faced by global asset managers of tapping the world’s second-largest fixed-income market in the wake of Washington and Beijing’s geopolitical stand-off over everything from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to critical technologies.
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