Barclays is the latest foreign bank to reportedly plan an expansion into the mainland asset management industry although it still needs to find a partner.
Barclays is planning to set up an asset management joint venture in mainland China, according to a «Reuters» report citing unnamed sources.
The intention is for the venture to be led by Shanghai-based Cherry Zhu, who was previously a Singapore-based sales director at Northern Trust Asset Management.
The British lender is seeking a Chinese banking partner to set up its majority-owned venture via its unit Barclays Investment Managers (BIM), which has existing operations in Europe and Japan.
Barclays would join other global financial institutions that have recently entered mainland China’s asset management industry through joint ventures. Goldman Sachs and ICBC announced plans to do so in June as did Blackrock and China Construction Bank in May 2021.
China Expansion
In addition to asset management, Barclays also injected $105 million of operating capital into its Shanghai banking branch, according to publicly available business registration records.
«The bank has been strengthening our cross-border corporate and investment bank platform in China, growing in a phased and measured approach,» the bank said in a statement.
The ongoing expansion in China, which Barclays termed a key growth market for corporate and investment banking in its last annual report, marks a reversal from its retreat from Asia six years ago when it exited its cash equities business and sold its wealth units in Hong Kong and Singapore.
