news

securities times reporter wang xiaoqian, xu ying and li yingchao

as china continues to promote high-level financial opening-up, foreign financial institutions are actively exploring innovative business models in the chinese market, which not only brings advanced financial products and services, but also promotes the alignment of china's financial market with international standards, injecting new vitality and competitiveness into the market.

continue to increase

investment in china

faced with the broad prospects of china's capital market's continued deepening reform and expansion of opening-up, more and more international financial institutions are setting up branches in china or submitting applications to set up branches in order to seek new development opportunities.

recently, senior executives of several foreign institutions told securities times reporters that the groups will continue to increase their investment in china and take practical actions to demonstrate their firm confidence and long-term commitment to the chinese market.

the latest moves by foreign institutions such as blackrock, jpmorgan chase and fidelity epitomize this trend. blackrock continues to increase its investment in the chinese market, jpmorgan chase actively expands its business in china, and fidelity sticks to its long-term strategic planning for the chinese market. through practical actions, these foreign institutions have demonstrated their optimism about china's economic prospects and their appreciation of cooperation opportunities.

fan hua, head of blackrock china and chairman of blackrock funds, said that blackrock's commitment to the chinese market is long-term and has never changed. since the beginning of this year, blackrock funds has completed its fourth capital increase, with registered capital increased to 1.25 billion yuan, becoming the foreign-funded public fund company with the highest registered capital in the industry. blackrock jianxin wealth management also increased its capital, becoming the first joint venture wealth management company approved to complete the capital increase, with registered capital increased to 1.4 billion yuan.

yu xueqin, general manager of jpmorgan securities (china) and head of the securities department, told the securities times that jpmorgan has made a lot of "real money" investment in the chinese market over the years, which is reflected in the group's continuous increase in local business investment and active acquisition of more business licenses. currently, jpmorgan has acquired full ownership of the four major legal entities in china, namely a local corporate bank, a securities company, a futures company and an asset management company, becoming the only foreign institution in china with a complete business platform.

huang xiaoyi, managing director of fidelity international china and general manager of fidelity funds, also emphasized that fidelity's long-term commitment to the chinese market has remained consistent. as one of the first wholly foreign-owned asset management companies to conduct public fund management business in china, fidelity is optimistic about china's long-term development trends and is committed to bringing better products and services to chinese investors, while contributing to the construction of a high-quality capital market and high-quality opening up to the outside world.

wang ge, general manager of dbs securities, told reporters that china is a strategically important market. "liquidity is one of the basic attributes of capital. it is a false proposition for foreign institutions to withdraw from china. short-term capital flows are determined by the attributes of capital. china's long-term positive economic development trend, vast market and policy signals of continuously expanding high-level opening-up are the basis for long-term inflows of foreign capital. in recent years, dbs group has continued to increase its investment in china, and its efforts, breadth and depth in deepening its presence in china have continued to increase, reflecting dbs group's firm commitment to china."

leveraging international experience

providing differentiated services

against the backdrop of the accelerated opening up of china's financial markets, foreign financial institutions are leveraging their global experience and differentiated specialty businesses in the fields of banking, securities, funds, etc. to meet the diverse needs of local and global customers and expand their influence in the chinese market.

in the banking industry, foreign banks use their global networks and diversified financial services to support cross-border capital flows and corporate globalization. for example, citibank has demonstrated a high degree of flexibility and innovation with its global network covering more than 90 markets.

lu xuan, president of citi china, president and director of citibank (china), said that the institution is able to provide cross-border financial services in a "one-stop" manner, and recently assisted a large chinese consumer electronics company in successfully completing a cross-border acquisition, demonstrating its global network advantages. at the same time, wang yunfeng, president and ceo of hsbc bank (china), also pointed out that through channels such as the shanghai-hong kong stock connect, shenzhen-hong kong stock connect and bond connect, hsbc has assisted global customers in participating in the opening of china's capital market, and has taken a leading position in the panda bond market, expanding overseas financing channels for chinese issuers.

in the securities industry, foreign securities firms have become a "bridge" between the chinese market and international capital with their global resources and professional capabilities. for example, jpmorgan securities (china), as the first wholly foreign-owned securities company, uses its cross-border business advantages to support chinese customers in exploring overseas markets, while helping overseas investors better understand the chinese market. morgan stanley securities, through its international experience, has played an important role in cross-border due diligence and optimizing the shareholder structure of listed companies, helping chinese companies with cross-border mergers and acquisitions.

in the field of public offering and wealth management, foreign asset management institutions meet the diverse needs of chinese investors by introducing global investment concepts and product innovation. for example, blackrock has established wholly foreign-owned public offering and joint venture wealth management companies in china, and has continuously innovated in product design and service models to provide investors with diversified choices. neuberger berman successfully issued the first green bond fund of foreign public offering, reflecting the green finance concept of international standards. fidelity, through its long-termism and global vision, has introduced global experience in pension investment and other aspects into the chinese market, providing investors with more sustainable and stable returns.

"localization" strategy

adapting to chinese market needs

judging from the development in recent years, foreign financial institutions have been actively promoting the localization development of the group's companies in china, and through a series of operations such as recruiting local business talents and adjusting business layout, they have better adapted to the local development environment.

fan hua told the securities times reporter that blackrock china has always attached great importance to the recruitment and training of talents in china, and actively absorbed local talents to ensure that the team has excellent professional capabilities and local insights in a complex and changing market environment. at present, blackrock fund and blackrock jianxin wealth management are still in the initial stage. "we do not pursue short-term scale and performance expansion, but focus on long-term development paths. blackrock will continue to strengthen the localization talent strategy and build a team that is both localized and professional." fan hua emphasized.

huang xiaoyi also said that fidelity began recruiting local investment research teams in china in 2011, and did not obtain a wholly foreign-owned public fund license until the end of 2022. it took a long time to gradually understand the chinese market and domestic investors, and also let domestic investors know about fidelity.

in april 2007, citibank china became one of the first foreign banks to be transformed into a local corporate bank. lu xuan said that since the establishment of the local corporate bank, citibank china has been positioned as a global bank that serves the chinese business of multinational foreign companies and helps chinese local companies expand overseas, while also serving medium-sized companies in specific target markets.

faced with the rapid changes and emerging opportunities in the chinese market, many foreign-funded institutions have also adjusted their business in the past two years to better adapt to the needs of the chinese market. from the perspective of business development, the overall development of foreign-funded institutions in the chinese market shows a diversified business strategy, aiming to play their comparative advantages in the segmented market.

geng lin, ceo of standard chartered securities (china), said that as a latecomer, standard chartered securities will focus on the fixed income business and leverage the group's three advantages to build its own distinctive competitiveness. in addition, standard chartered attaches great importance to green development and sustainable finance. with the continuous integration of domestic green bond standardization and international standards, the company will help the development and innovation of the green bond market.

lu xuan also mentioned that in the future, citi china’s business development will focus on corporate and institutional finance, which is its advantageous track.

huang xiaoyi also mentioned that fidelity is the company that invented the one-stop solution for retirement - target date funds, and retirement will also be one of fidelity's key long-term development directions. in the future, the company hopes to obtain the qualification to issue retirement products as soon as possible and create retirement investment solutions and services for chinese investors.