CHINA Universal Asset Management Co., the US$100 billion manager behind some of the nation’s best-performing equity funds, is looking to be the first among its peers to set up shop in the United States even as trade tensions persist.

The firm expects to open a wholly-owned U.S. unit this year, pending regulatory approvals, to raise money for investments in Chinese firms, according to chief executive officer Zhang Hui.

It plans to sell products linked to Chinese-listed stocks to U.S. investors and boost research on the U.S. market so it can buy shares traded in New York, especially China-related ones, he said.

Universal Asset aims to be a link for investors that “don’t necessarily have the resources to invest in China on their own,” Zhang said in a recent interview in Shanghai.

The trade dispute has raised pressure on China’s financial companies to increase their overseas presence and be a conduit for dollar funding to the country’s manufacturers, analysts have said. Meanwhile, China’s decision to internationalize its financial sector and press on with the opening despite tensions offers firms like Universal Asset the hope of a positive reception in the United States.

A representative for Universal Asset declined to comment on the potential impact of trade frictions on its U.S. application, citing the sensitivity of the matter.

Obstacles to expand into the United States will probably only increase if negotiations between the world’s largest economies are protracted, according to Shi Wenbien, a Shanghai-based analyst at Yuanta Securities Co.

Ant Financial, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s financial unit, failed to get a U.S. clearance last year to buy MoneyGram International Inc. (SD-Agencies)