(Yicai Global) Feb. 7 – A unit of China Asset Management Co., a large-scale fund management company, has launched the A-shares Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), the world's first newly issued A-shares ETF that tracks the MSCI China A International Index.

The fund provides investors a transparent and cost-effective means of investing in the China A-shares market, the company's Hong Kong subsidiary said in a statement today.

MSCI announced plans in June 2017 to include China A-shares in the MSCI Emerging Market Index and MSCI All Country World Index this year.

The MSCI China A International Index tracked by the ETF was set up in October 2017. It was prepared based on the A-share market framework and followed international investment through the Stock Connect. The ETF includes 232 component stocks, mainly large-cap shares that can be purchased through Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect.

"The potential of China A shares should not be ignored due to the sustained economic growth of China and the stability of CNY, as well as the fact that A share was included in the representative benchmark index," said Zhang Xiaoling, CEO at China AMC (HK), adding that China AMC (Hong Kong) will continue to increase the presence of its products in Hong Kong in 2018.

Incorporated in Hong Kong in 2008, China Asset Management (Hong Kong) Ltd., a wholly-owned unit of China Asset Management, was one of the first licensed Chinese fund management companies to carry out asset management business in Hong Kong as well as one of the first RQFII fund managers.