According to Pickerell, the company has been investigating various options in recent months including the establishment of partnerships and joint ventures with several securities and trust companies on the mainland, though the firm has yet to confirm any deals since terminating negotiations with Shenzen-based China Southern Fund Management last year.

Pickerell stressed in a Dow Jones report however, that HSBC Asset Management is not keen on the idea of buying into existing firms. "It is much more likely that we will do it by starting from scratch rather than by acquiring a stake in an existing fund management company. We have ongoing talks, we have been working on these possibilities for quite some time," Dow Jones quoted the chief executive as saying.