The newly merged business Aberdeen Standard Investments announced a breakthrough for its China unit.
The U.K. based global asset manager said that its wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE), Aberdeen Asset Management (Shanghai), has secured registration as a private securities investment fund manager with the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC) the firm said in a press release.
The new private securities fund management qualification enables the WFOE to manufacture and offer onshore private securities investment funds to qualified institutional and high-net-worth investors in China. Aberdeen Standard Investments has had a presence in China for over 15 years.
«As the Chinese government continues to reform the financial services industry, we are excited to expand our onshore business to tap into the long-term investment opportunities,» said Martin Gilbert, co-chief executive of Standard Life Aberdeen.
The Walls Come Down
This year has seen a flurry of global asset managers winning regulatory approval to establish wholly-foreign owned enterprises in China and comes on the back of the country's regulators promising to ease restrictions on foreign ownership stakes in the financial sector.
According to China’s deputy finance minister Zhu Guangyao China’s financial services sector will be almost entirely open to foreign players in the next five years. UBS chairman Axel Weber has also praised the efforts of China's leaders to open the country up, citing its controlled and steady process of financial liberalisation.
UBS Asset Management recently announced it had secured a licence to offer onshore funds for stock, bond and multi asset investment in China, that followed on from Fidelity International who in May this year beat global peers to start a private fund in Shanghai. Blackrock also plans to set up a WFOE first for its private fund business in the nation.
