Bermuda-based Fidelity International is reported to be planning an aggressive push into Japan with plans to double its Asian assets under management to nearly $100 billion the next five to ten years, according to The Financial Times.

Brett Goodin, president of Fidelity?s Asian operation, told the Times that his company is eyeing the Japanese retirement savings market with a plan to focus on products for Japan?s ageing population.

He told FTfm, the FT?s weekly review of fund management: ?If we hit our goals in our existing markets, we can comfortably double our assets in the next five to 10 years.

?But to achieve that, we have got to succeed in the retirement space.?

Fidelity, which claims to be the fourth-largest provider of mutual funds in Japan, hopes to benefit from the privatisation of Japan Post, the mail delivery service, which has started to give outside fund managers access to the $3,000bn of savings assets under its control, the Times reports

?The 800-pound gorilla is Japan, which is probably the world?s biggest pool of long-term savings that need to find a home,? Mr. Goodin told The Times.

?There is an internal benchmark that I have to fulfil: Japan should be the second-biggest business for Fidelity after the US, so I have got a bit of work to do.?

While he is also bullish on India, where Fidelity has raised more than $2bn of mutual fund assets over the past six months, Fidelity has refused to follow peers into China?s fast-growing fund market due to its tight regulations on ownership levels and products.

With foreign managers forced to acquire minority stakes of up to 49 per cent in local joint ventures, Fidelity is awaiting rules that will allow foreign fund houses to launch wholly owned, greenfield operations the Time reports.

?As a private company, we have no reason to rush into a market, where we believe the regulatory environment isn?t right for us,? said Mr. Goodin.