China looks to foreigners to manage FX reserves

BEIJING Dec 1 (Reuters) - China has kicked off its first global hiring campaign for money managers to help invest its $2.3 trillion of foreign exchange reserves, the world's largest stockpile, an official said.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange is seeking to improve returns on its bulging reserves and it recognises that the tumult in global financial markets has left many bankers looking for new jobs, a SAFE official told Reuters.

"It is time for us to hunt talent from overseas financial markets, as the post-crisis economic outlook becomes clear to financial professionals and their institutions," the official said. He declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to media.

SAFE posted job advertisements on its web site (www.safe.gov.cn) in October for positions ranging from portfolio managers to research staff, though the hiring campaign has remained low-key so far.

Candidates are expected to have working knowledge of both Chinese and English, plus at least two years of work experience with well-known financial institutions.

The official declined to say how many foreigners SAFE was hoping to bring aboard.

Analysts said that the forex agency's global hiring campaign was part of its drive to diversify China's currency reserves, a long-standing official goal.

"With our foreign exchange reserves growing, the team of staff that manages the reserve assets should also be strengthened," said Ding Zhijie, a professor with the University of International Business and Economics.

The composition of the reserves is a state secret, but analysts estimate that at least two-thirds are invested in dollar-denominated securities, which means China stands to lose a lot from any decline in the dollar's value.

But any diversification away from the dollar has been proceeding very gradually, not least because Beijing has continued to buy dollars to prevent the yuan from rising since it was effectively repegged to the dollar in the middle of 2008.

"Actually, SAFE is moving at slower pace than expected in the direction of employing overseas talents," an economist at an international bank in Hong Kong said, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

China Investment Corp, the country's $300 billion sovereign wealth fund, has staged two rounds of global hiring since its inception in 2007.

SAFE employs about 200 reserve managers, 80 percent of whom hold master's degrees or higher and 40 percent of whom hold internationally recognised professional certificates, local media have reported. (Reporting by Shen Yan, Chen Min in Beijing and Joy Leung in Hong Kong; Writing by Aileen Wang; Editing by Ken Wills) ((simon.rabinovitch@thomsonreuters.com; +86 139 0111 6692; Reuters Messaging: simon.rabinovitch.reuters.com@reuters.net)) ((If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com))