Blackrock's Shanghai arm has clinched a key fund management status with China's money management industry group.
The New York-based investment firm said it is now registered as a private fund management company with the Asset Management Association of China. The move allows Blackrock's Shanghai arm to sell investment products in the country to eligible institutional and high net worth investors, the firm said in a statement.
The world's largest asset manager is the latest to clinch access to a key China market segment, after the China-based units of Fullerton Fund Management, Fidelity International and Switzerland's UBS this year.
Chinese Open Door
China's financial services sector will be almost entirely open to foreign players in the next five years, according to deputy finance minister Zhu Guangyao. He said that China will lift limits on foreign ownership stakes in securities, fund managers and futures companies from 49 percent to 51 percent and end restrictions after three years. The move followed criticism from the U.S. and other trading partners and after a state visit to China by U.S. President Donald Trump last month.
Blackrock recently appointed Deborah Ho (pictured below) as head of Southeast Asia in Singapore, effective from March. She was previously with Barclays Bank, where she oversaw platinum client relationships in the Asia-Pacific region.
Prior to that she was chief executive of DBS Asset Management in Singapore and head of fixed income distribution for Asia (ex-Japan) at UBS.
