By Selena Li
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Allianz (ETR:ALVG) Global Investors (AllianzGI) has become the latest foreign asset manager to seek Beijing's approval to expand in the world's second-largest economy.
AllianzGI filed its application Friday last week to enter China's $3.95 trillion fund management market, according to a filing with the China Securities Regulatory Commission which became available to the public on Monday evening.
The application "further demonstrates the firm's commitment in China and its dedication to develop the onshore fund management business in this important market", a spokesperson for AllianzGI said in a statement.
Reuters reported last August that AllianzGI, one of the two asset management arms of German financial group Allianz as well as Pimco, was pressing ahead with a plan to form a fully owned fund management business in China.
The move marks a major step of the German financial conglomerate to boost its presence in China's mutual fund market, establishing a greenfield fund unit via AllianzGI in addition to a Sino-foreign joint venture the parent group originally formed in 2003 and owns 49%.
The fast-growing segment of China's onshore financial market has attracted global asset managers such as BlackRock (NYSE:BLK), Fidelity International and Schroders (LON:SDR) to establish wholly-owned fund units locally. (This story has been corrected to say Allianz has not exited its existing fund joint venture in paragraph 5)