Emerging Markets
Temasek, BlackRock Win Chinese Wealth Business Green Light
From the start of April this year, China Securities Regulatory Commission has completely removed the foreign ownership limit for fund management firms. The move has been seen as a way for China to attract foreign investment capital.
China has approved a wealth management joint venture between
BlackRock, Singapore
sovereign wealth fund Temasek and China
Construction Bank Corp.
The
China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission announced
the move on its website at the weekend. A spokesperson for
BlackRock also sent this statement to this news
service: “BlackRock has received regulatory
approval from the China Banking & Insurance Regulatory Commission
to take our next step toward a joint venture with China
Construction Bank and Temasek where we will work together to meet
the needs and objectives of Chinese investors. This partnership
is consistent with the US-China efforts to open the Chinese
market to US financial services firms.”
Temasek also confirmed the move when asked about the matter.
China is trying to widen access to its financial markets to
foreign firms, even while the country is to some extent at odds
with the US and other Western nations over issues such as trade
and its alleged tardiness in warning the world about
COVID-19.
Among other foreign firms getting clearance recently, Amundi, the
European asset manager, and Bank of China Wealth Management won
approval from Chinese regulators to set up a joint
venture.
In
December last year the China Securities Regulatory Commission
said it would completely lift the foreign ownership limit for
fund management firms, starting from 1 April 2020. More global
firms are expected to take a majority stake in their Chinese JVs
or even establish 100 per cent-owned retail fund businesses in
China.