Foreign ownership rules to ease on fund management firms

Controls are about to ease on foreign ownership of domestic fund management firms to promote the opening up of the financial sector, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said on Friday.

"We will evaluate the process first and gradually raise the shareholding ratio of foreign capital in domestic fund management companies," said Zhang Xiaojun, a CSRC spokesman. "We hope the move will promote the development of joint ventures."

Earlier this month, the CSRC announced rules establishing a shelf registration system for public mutual fund issues that it said would promote the development of China's fund sector and attract more institutional investors.