The firms have been granted a Private Securities Investment Fund Manager licence from the Asset Management Association of China.

Investment management firms Winton Group, based in London, and US-based Bridgewater Associates have been granted a Private Securities Investment Fund Manager licence from the Asset Management Association of China.

The licence will allow the firms to develop and market investment products to investors in China, the firms said in a statement.

Earlier this year, Bridgewater Associates launched an offshore Chinese version of its All Weather strategy, All Weather China, to provide foreign investors with access to Chinese assets. The firm's newly attained PFM licence will now allow it to offer an onshore version of this strategy to qualified Chinese investors. The firm has had an on-ground presence in the region for nearly a decade, opening its Beijing office in 2011. 

Winton initially began collecting and studying data for mainland Chinese markets in 2008 with the launch of its first diversified trading strategy for Chinese futures markets in 2010. Then Winton established its local research and investment management team in 2012 and began working with Chinese partners. Winton’s current Shanghai office opened in 2015.

“Winton’s PFM registration allows us to continue building our business in the Chinese markets for the long term,” said David Harding, Winton’s founder, chief executive and co-chief investment officer. “We have been successfully advising Chinese investors in Chinese futures markets for eight years, and we look forward to developing our business in Chinese equities and futures markets in the years ahead.”

David McCormick, co-CEO of Bridgewater Associates, said: "We have an extensive history with China as a result of having been deeply involved in and studying the evolution of its economy and markets for more than 30 years. It is with this robust understanding that we recognize China is at a unique inflection point – a globally impactful economy with deepening capital markets which are lowly correlated to those in other developed economies, making Chinese assets a valuable source of diversification. Consistent with our goal of working with the largest pools of capital in the world and our long-term commitment to China, we look forward to helping investors on the mainland, as well as around the globe, access and navigate these markets which are quickly becoming among the most important publicly traded liquid markets in the world."

These are the two latest offshore firms to be given a fund management licence in China. Among other recent cases of foreign firms launching products for the onshore China is Man Group, the listed hedge fund business. It has launched its first onshore investment strategy for qualified investors in China. This comes after this publication reported that Aberdeen Asset Management had gained access to the Chinese private fund market. Also in December, Aberdeen Asset Management (Shanghai), the wholly foreign-owned enterprise of Aberdeen Standard Investments, secured registration as a private securities investment fund manager with AMAC. Invesco and UBS have also looked at tapping into the RMB10 trillion ($1.51 trillion) Chinese private fund market.