(Corrects to clarify Greater Bay area includes Guangdong province not just Shenzhen)
SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Shanghai is exploring a cross-border wealth management scheme and will strengthen ties with other financial hubs such as London and New York, as it aims to become a global asset management centre by 2025.
The plans, announced by Shanghai’s Lujiazui Financial City during a conference on Wednesday, comes as China is tightening scrutiny of overseas listings in a move some say is designed to benefit the country’s own capital markets.
It also shows China is continuing to open up its financial markets, despite rising Sino-U.S. tensions and recent market volatility triggered by Beijing’s regulatory crackdowns on tech firms and private tutoring companies.
During the meeting, attended by asset managers including BlackRock, Fidelity International and Franklin Templeton, Shanghai encouraged international players to participate in the city’s planned global financial assets exchange platform.
Several foreign financial institutions, including Charles Schwab and T Rowe Price Group signed agreements on Wednesday to establish footholds in Lujiazui, Shanghai’s answer to Wall Street. Over 100 foreign asset managers have already opened offices or businesses in the district.
Shanghai did not give a time frame for its cross-border wealth management scheme or details on how it would work.
China is nearing the launch of a Wealth Connect scheme in the Greater Bay Area that links its southern Guangdong province with neighbouring Hong Kong and Macao.
Other measures to boost Shanghai’s status as an asset management hub include launching a Global Asset Management Partnership (GAMP) scheme to facilitate industry cooperation.
Shanghai will also explore the feasibility of allowing local institutions to offer cross-border asset management, or advisory services, to investment funds launched overseas.
(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Kim Coghill)
