The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has granted HSBC China a domestic fund custody licence, a step that allows the lender to boost its cross-border securities services business.
With the licence, HSBC will be able to provide custody services to onshore funds offered by fund and asset managers domiciled in mainland China, it said in a statement on Thursday.
“China is the second-largest capital market in the world and continues to be an important choice for foreign institutional investors looking to diversify their global asset allocations, especially their long-term capital,” said Fiona Horsewill, global head of securities services at HSBC.
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The new licence enhances HSBC China’s portfolio of custody services in mainland China and better positions the bank to directly provide custody services to locally domiciled mutual funds, private funds and private asset-management schemes, the statement said. The bank received the licence on October 25.
“The new licence marks another milestone in HSBC’s business development in China, enabling us to participate more deeply in the market’s capital-market opening and to assist overseas investors to be a part of the vast opportunities that arise,” said Mark Wang, president and CEO of HSBC China. “We will continue investing to further grow our China business and to capture the long-term potential of the market.”
HSBC is the fifth foreign bank to be granted a domestic fund custody licence. A local branch of BNP Paribas received one in June. Previously, Standard Chartered Bank (China) was the first foreign bank to receive the licence in 2018, followed by Citibank (China) and Deutsche Bank (China).
In recent years, the mutual fund market in mainland China has grown year on year, reaching nearly US$4.49 trillion as of the end of September, according to the Asset Management Association of China.
HSBC provides custody services to asset managers in nearly 100 markets globally. Total assets under custody exceeded US$9 trillion as of the end of June 2024, it said.
More from South China Morning Post:
- Standard Chartered to focus on wealth business, sell units after upbeat earnings
- US banking giant Citigroup granted custody licence in China as mainland fund sector further opens up
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