BNP Paribas will get regulatory nod to arrange China asset administration three way partnership By Reuters

By Selena Li

HONG KONG (Reuters) – BNP Paribas (OTC:) has obtained Chinese language regulatory approval to begin constructing an asset administration enterprise with Agricultural Financial institution of China (OTC:) (AgBank), the 2 firms mentioned, permitting the French agency to faucet a $4 trillion market.

The China Banking and Insurance coverage Regulatory Fee (CBIRC) has granted preliminary approval to permit BNP and AgBank, China’s third-biggest lender by property, to type a brand new three way partnership, in line with an AgBank inventory change submitting late on Monday.

BNP confirmed the preliminary approval, which is within the type of the CBIRC formally accepting the 2 firms’ utility for a last licence to open for enterprise available in the market.

The French agency will personal a 51% stake within the enterprise, whereas state-owned AgBank may have the remaining.

Reuters reported in September final yr that BNP’s asset administration arm was in talks to type a wealth administration enterprise with a unit of AgBank, profiting from China’s opening up of its monetary markets for foreigners.

BNP Paribas Asset Administration and ABC Wealth Administration, a wealth arm of AgBank, will fund the brand new platform, in line with Monday’s submitting.

Since China deregulated monetary markets in 2019, permitting international asset managers to arrange majority-owned ventures with native banks, a flurry of international companies together with BlackRock (NYSE:) and Amundi have launched majority-controlled models domestically.

Different international companies reminiscent of Barclays (LON:) and Allianz (ETR:) are additionally exploring this and looking for native companions.

The brand new platform will add to BNP Paribas’ 49%-owned asset administration three way partnership with brokerage agency Haitong Securities which primarily runs mutual funds. The French lender additionally owns 16.3% shares of China’s Nanjing Financial institution.