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2024.07.24

Word count: 961, reading time: about 1.5 minutes

Introduction: Franklin Templeton’s Beijing representative office is still operating normally and we have not applied to the regulatory authorities to cancel or close the office.

Author |Zhou Ailin, China Business News

On July 24, Franklin Templeton told the First Financial reporter that "Franklin Templeton's Beijing representative office is still operating normally, and we have not applied to the regulator to cancel or close the office."

On July 23, self-media reported that Franklin Templeton, a large American asset management firm, fired its head of China and managing director Yu Qing in early July, and said that Franklin Templeton would close its entire Beijing representative office and transfer its related business in the Chinese market to the Shanghai representative office.

“Franklin Templeton is one of the first global asset management companies to enter the Chinese market and has established local partnerships, committed to bringing innovative investment products and services to the Chinese market. There are and still are huge opportunities in the Chinese market. We will continue to explore various avenues and structures to make full use of our global best practices and world-class investment expertise to best serve our investors.”

Regarding the personnel changes, the agency stated: "In June 2024, Ms. Yu Qing, who was the head of the China region, left after completing her contract period. Our business in the Chinese market will continue to be supported by an experienced local team. Franklin Templeton will continue to focus on deepening its presence in the Chinese market."

It is reported that before joining Franklin Templeton, Yu Qing served as Chairman of Nomura Orient International Securities, Managing Director of Nomura Securities Beijing Representative Office, and Vice President of China Reinsurance Group. Prior to this, she worked for a long time in the Ministry of Finance of China.

Last November, during the International Financial Leaders Investment Summit held by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Franklin Templeton Chairman and CEO Jenny Johnson said that they already have a joint venture fund company (Franklin Sealand) in China and hope to continue to observe other business opportunities in the future. In her opinion, as the world's second largest economy, China has a large number of well-educated laborers, enjoys the engineer dividend, and contributes 18% of the world's GDP. The current slowdown in China's economy is normal, and it is impossible to continue high growth. China will still have many opportunities.

At present, the global asset management industry is facing certain challenges. In view of the long-term high interest rate environment overseas and the overall contraction of business in some Asian markets, many international asset management companies have experienced business rectification and staff reduction. Foreign asset management institutions operating in China also face challenges. In 2023, against the backdrop of China's stock market volatility, the overall scale of public funds continued to grow against the trend, with a year-on-year growth rate of 6% in 2023, but this was mainly due to the continuous increase in the share of money funds, bond funds, and ETFs, and the proportion of foreign institutions in these businesses is still low. As Chinese investors' enthusiasm for global asset allocation continues to heat up, more foreign institutions also hope to seek business opportunities from it.

WeChat Editor| Su Xiao