JPMorgan Asset Management Opts for Full China Bond Inclusion

(Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Asset Management is opting to fully track the inclusion of Chinese domestic bonds into a key global index that it uses to benchmark some of its funds.

The Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index began a phased addition of Chinese securities on April 1. Not all funds that have used this benchmark are choosing to follow fully the plan for adding China debt. Vanguard Group Inc. said last week it preferred a partial adoption, citing market-structure challenges with regard to trading Chinese debt.

JPMorgan Asset Management mutual funds amounting to $4.2 billion in client assets “will reflect the inclusion,” the company said in a statement Tuesday.

“Global benchmark indexes finally incorporating some of China’s vast bond market is a significant milestone,” said Arjun Vij, a portfolio manager at JPMorgan Asset Management, said in the statement.

Bloomberg LP owns Bloomberg Barclays indexes, and Bloomberg News. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has its own global bond indexes, and plans to discuss including Chinese bonds in coming months.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Anstey in Tokyo at canstey@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net, Cormac Mullen, Andreea Papuc

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