Overseas banks have joined the battlefield of yuan-backed trust-investment products with two lenders spearheading the market this week and more poised to test the water.

The products help broaden overseas banks' product offerings and fee-based income channels. For clients, it means more investment options, analysts said.

Standard Chartered Bank said yesterday it would start selling trust-investment products targeting fixed-income products from today until August 29 by teaming up with Zhonghai Trust Co Ltd.

The bank heralded the dash into the market two days after rival Bank of East Asia became the first overseas bank to launch its trust product.

Hong Kong-based BEA teamed up with Shanghai-based Fortune Trust Co Ltd to offer a trust product invested in the credit assets pool of GMAC-SAIC Automotive Finance Co.

The product is available until August 21.

The Chinese banking regulator earlier this year gave the go-ahead for overseas banks to offer trust investment products.

Domestic banks have offered the products since 2006 amid positive market response.

"We are seeking a diversity of products to offer clients," Christina Hui, managing director, wealth management, Standard Chartered Bank (China) Ltd, said yesterday.

The sluggish stock market has dampened banks' sales of stock market-linked investment products.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index has halved this year, with investors taking their money back to banks for more stable interest.

BEA said it expected an annual return of at least 5.5 percent for general investors on its trust product.

(Shanghai Daily August 14, 2008)