China's Ping An Insurance Group has hired Citi veteran Jonathan Larsen to lead a new $1 billion overseas fund than will focus on investing in financial and healthcare technology.
Larson, who spent 18 years at Citi, most recently as global head of retail banking and mortgages, will become Ping An's chief innovation officer as well as manager of the China Ping An Global Voyager Fund.
The fund will be managed from Hong Kong and look to invest in early stage fintech and healthcare tech firms around the world, as China's biggest insurer looks to expand beyond its home market.
Ping An already has fintech experience through its Lufax subsidiary, China's biggest P2P lending and wealth management platform. Lufax is already looking to expand into Hong Kong or Singapore, according to Reuters.
Says Larsen in a statement. "I look forward to helping Ping An access global innovations in finance and technology and build a global presence in fintech and healthtech."
According to estimates from Credit China FinTech, China's investment in fintech ventures grew by $8.8bn between July 2015 and June 2016, more than doubling from 2010, and investors are increasingly looking overseas. Earlier this year, CreditEase, a $1 billion fintech investment fund operating out of the country, announced a series of investments in US-based financial technology startups.