BLACKROCK Inc. and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte received approval to jointly build an asset management business in China with one its biggest banks, bolstering the U.S. company’s expansion in the country.

BlackRock said that it, along with, state investor Temasek and China Construction Bank Corp. won the approval from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

BlackRock is the second foreign company to receive the approval and joins the world’s largest asset managers and investment banks like JP Morgan Chase & Co. in expanding in the Asian nation. It was expected that the value of retail funds alone could reach US$3.4 trillion in three years in the Chinese market.

BlackRock chief executive officer Larry Fink said China remains one of the firm’s top regions for growth despite uncertainties brought on by tensions with the United States and the virus.

Top global financial players have long sought to increase their presence in the relatively fast growing Chinese economy, and in October last year China scrapped some restrictions on foreign banks’ operations in the country.

Two months later France-based Amundi, Europe’s largest asset manager, and Bank of China Wealth Management won approval from Chinese regulators to set up a joint venture, while banks including UBS and JPMorgan Chase have won approval to set up majority-owned China ventures.

(SD-Agencies)