The plan is to set up the asset management association in the first half of 2018.

Lujiazui, the commercial and financial centre of Shanghai, plans to set up the Global Asset Management Association of Lujiazui (GAMAL) in the first half of 2018, according to local media reports.

Earlier this week, more than 60 global asset management institutions, including BlackRock, Fidelity International and JP Morgan, attended a preparatory meeting in Lujiazui.

The association aims to establish an exchange platform for global asset management institutions to help them set up in Lujiazui and better understand China's asset management industry.

Currently, more than 60 overseas asset management institutions have subsidiaries or plan to establish branches in Lujiazui. According to Casey Quirk, by 2019, China will be the second-largest asset management market in the world. It will have more than $17 trillion in assets under management by 2030, up from $2.8 trillion in 2016.

In September 2016, JP Morgan set up a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) in Shanghai Free Trade Zone with the first WFOE asset management licence in China. The licence allows a WFOE to offer onshore fixed income, equity, and multi-asset private funds to both institutional and high net worth investors in China.