US investment bank Goldman Sachs has garnered approval from Chinese regulators for the launch of a wealth management joint-venture with world’s biggest bank in terms of assets.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) announced on Tuesday that Chinese regulators had given their approval for ICBC’s wealth management unit to launch the JV with Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
The wealth management JV will be controlled by Goldman Sachs, which will hold a 51% equity stake, while the remaining 49% will be held by the wealth management unit of ICBC – China and the world’s biggest bank in terms of assets.
The JV is expected to provide a range of investment products to the Chinese market that will include quantitative investment strategies, cross-border products and innovative solutions in alternatives.
Goldman Sachs said in a statement that the JV will be a “world-class asset management business” that “will combine Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s expertise in investment and risk management with ICBC’s strong brand recognition and unparalleled access to retail and institutional clients across China.”
ICBC said that the wealth management JV would be of “[benefit] to the bank’s provision of more diversified and professional wealth management services.”
The approval arrives amidst an ongoing round of comprehensive measures to further open up the Chinese financial sector that was first launched by Beijing in early 2018 at the Bo’ao Forum.
US funds company BlackRock grabbed approval in early May for the launch of its own majority-owned wealth management JV with big state-owned lender China Construction Bank and Singaporean sovereign investor Temasek Holdings.
British asset manager Schroders has applied to launch a wealth management JV with big state-owned lender Bank of Communications, while France’s Amundi has already established its own wealth management JV with Bank of China.
