The Swiss private bank's asset management arm has become another Western firm awarded an investment quota by China.

Pictet Asset Management, part of Swiss private banking group Pictet, has been awarded a Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor quota of RMB1.0 billion ($160 million) by the Chinese authorities, it can be confirmed.

China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange granted the quota to the Swiss firm earlier in January, part of a trend of Western banks and investment managers being granted wider access into the Asian country’s financial markets.

In September last year, Pictet Asset Management created a Renminbi bond investment team and trading team in Hong Kong, switching staff from Switzerland to Asia, as well as embarking on plans to trade in the Vietnamese market.

Other firms such as JP Morgan, Baring Asset Management, Ashmore Group, BlackRock and BNP Paribas have received quotas.