CHINA’S top securities regulator pledged Monday to crack down on mismanaged private funds and weed out fake ones, as the government becomes more assertive in dealing with an industry worth 60 trillion yuan (US$9.28 trillion).

China has been seeking to channel more household savings into the capital markets to fund innovation and aid its economic recovery, while reducing the economy’s reliance on bank lending.

Fund managers should align their interests more closely with investors, and refrain from hyping their products, Yi Huiman, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said.

“China is actively promoting high-quality growth of its capital markets, and healthy development of the 60 trillion yuan fund industry is a crucial part of it,” Yi told a meeting held by the Asset Management Association of China.

Chinese mutual fund managers also face rising competition from global asset managers such as BlackRock and Fidelity International after regulators scrapped foreign ownership in the sector on April 1, 2020.

By July-end, the country’s mutual fund industry stood at 23.5 trillion yuan, 1.6 times the size at 2016-end, Yi said.

The private securities fund sector doubled to 5.5 trillion yuan, and its private equity and venture capital industry tripled to 12.6 trillion yuan during the period.

Despite a recent cleanup of China’s private fund industry, there are still many small and weak players hampering the high-quality growth of the sector.

(SD-Agencies)