The latest compliance news: regulatory developments, punishments, guidance, permissions and new product and service offerings.

Chinese regulators have granted US-listed asset management titan BlackRock a licence to operate a wholly-owned onshore mutual fund business in China, joining other Western firms using this route into the Asian nation’s economy.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission granted approval for BlackRock Fund Management Co to begin operating as a fund management company, BlackRock said in a statement. As at 31 December 2020, BlackRock oversaw $8.68 trillion in client money.

This approval enables BlackRock to offer domestic Chinese investors onshore investment products and solutions, it said. 

China’s permission for the firm comes after it won approval to build a joint venture asset management business. 

“China is taking significant steps in opening up its financial markets. We are honoured to be in a position in which we can support more Chinese investors [to have] access to financial markets and build portfolios that can serve them throughout their lives. We look forward to sharing our global investment expertise and offering more differentiated investment solutions to Chinese investors,” Larry Fink, BlackRock’s chairman and CEO, said.

China is trying to widen access to its financial markets to foreign firms, even while the country is at odds with the US and other Western nations over areas such as trade, and claims and counter-claims about what caused COVID-19.

Among other foreign firms getting clearance, Amundi, the European asset manager, and Bank of China Wealth Management, have won approval from Chinese regulators to set up a joint venture.