Fidelity Investments, the world’s
largest mutual fund manager, plans to open a business in Germany
to register funds as domestic products in the 430 billion-euro
($553 billion) market.
Fidelity will start a “kapitalanlagegesellschaft” this year
for tax and legal purposes, said Thomas Balk, who runs the
company’s European fund business. Fidelity currently sells its
Luxembourg-register funds in Germany.
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While the German government is changing legislation to make
it easier for foreign firms to sell funds to its 82 million
citizens, the country has faced criticism because its rules
allegedly favored domestic companies. The European Union
threatened to fine the country in 2002 because it charged higher
taxes for funds registered abroad.
“The German government in the past has shown it is willing
to discriminate against foreign firms,” Balk said in a telephone
interview. “We want to have a very firm foothold,”
Bloomberg News
