Robeco and HSBC vie for a piece of the Polish pie

Robeco, a Dutch asset management company, is to offer domestic investors four funds, with sales to commence at the beginning of October. One of the financial product distributors will be the Bank Gospodarki Zywnosciowej, as along with Robeco, it is connected with the Dutch Rabobank. HSBC, one of the world's largest financial groups, is also reportedly willing to enter the domestic investment fund sector after the revelation that it has plans to commence sales of its products before the end of the year. HSBC is aiming to offer a range of 50 financial products, a relatively simple prospect considering assets managed by HSBC Investment amounted to USD304 billion at the end of April this year. The new players will have to battle 22 other competitors in the sector, including such giants as Franklin Templeton Investment Funds, Merrill Lynch International Investment Funds and World Investment Opportunities Funds. (Parkiet, pp. 1, 11) A.K.