China has granted the firm's entity a permit to conduct securities and futures business in the mainland.

Fidelity International has won a regulatory green light for its wholly foreign-owned enterprise in mainland China.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has granted the permit to conduct securities and futures business to FIL Fund Management (China) Company Limited.

As a result of the move, Fidelity International is able to offer onshore investment products and solutions to retail clients and asset management services to institutional clients in China.

The firm said that China is a “strategic, long-term priority market” for its business, in which it has actively invested for more than two decades. 

Such a move comes at a time when relations between the West and China have been frosty, and when some renowned investors, such as hedge fund tycoon George Soros, have warned of the risks of doing business with the country. 

Since 2004, Fidelity said it has built up three offices in Shanghai, Dalian and Beijing. Today it has over 1,900 employees in China. 

Under the previous Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) scheme, Fidelity was awarded a quota of $1.2 billion. In January 2017, Fidelity registered with the Asset Management Association of China as a private fund management (PFM) company.

“As an independent, privately-owned company with a focus on long-term sustainable outcomes, we also hope to play a significant role in the development of China's rapidly growing asset management industry,” Rajeev Mittal, managing director, Asia Pacific ex-Japan, Fidelity International, said.