Fidelity International has announced that its wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) in Shanghai has become the first global asset manager to register with the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC) as a private fund management company.

This qualification allows Fidelity International to create onshore investment products in China for eligible Chinese institutional and high net-worth investors for the first time, and is crucial to the firm’s long-term China strategy. Established in September 2015 in Shanghai, Fidelity International’s WFOE, FIL Investment Management (Shanghai) Company Limited, is the first global asset management company to be awarded the qualification.

“This is a significant milestone to facilitate our expansion in the world’s second-largest economy. Thanks to the support from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and AMAC, we are honoured to be the first company to receive this private fund management business qualification,” says Mark Talbot, managing director, Asia Pacific, Fidelity International. “We have been operating in China since 2004, offering offshore capabilities to domestic institutional clients, and retail investors through partnering with banks under the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor programme. This latest development expands our capabilities to support Chinese clients’ needs to invest both onshore and offshore.”

“China is crucial to our global growth strategy, and as a privately-owned company, we are able to take a long-term approach to develop the best solutions for our clients to meet their investment and retirement needs,” Talbot added.

Fidelity International has representative offices in Shanghai and Beijing, as well as an operating center in Dalian, employing a total of over 400 staff in China. Fidelity International has a quota of US$1.2 billion under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor scheme, which is one of the largest amounts held by any fund manager globally. The QFII quota allows Fidelity International to invest in Chinese capital markets.

“We firmly believe a local presence in China is critical not only to understand clients’ needs, but also to actively identify investment opportunities through our global research and investment capabilities,” says Daisy Ho, managing director, Asia Pacific ex Japan, Fidelity International. “We are set to offer onshore investors an opportunity to capture the long-term investment opportunities in China through our WFOE private fund management company.”