BlackRock Inc (BLK:New York), an American asset management firm, became the first foreign asset manager allowed to start a wholly owned mutual fund business in China, a step toward winning a slice of one of the fastest-growing wealth markets.

The world’s largest asset manager was granted a license from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to start selling onshore investment products and solutions to Chinese investors, the company said in a statement on Friday.

The approval comes a month after BlackRock was given the nod to pursue a joint venture asset management business along with China Construction Bank Corp. and Singapore’s Temasek.

Together, the two entities give BlackRock an edge to reach more investors in China, as it competes with a slew of global institutions going after an asset pool estimated by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to surpass $70 trillion by the end of the decade.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-11/blackrock-receives-nod-to-start-china-mutual-fund-business