Ant Financial, Vanguard set up fund investment advisory service

US-based asset manager Vanguard and Ant Financial Services Group announced on Saturday they have established a joint venture to provide a fund investment advisory service to Chinese individual investors, as approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The joint venture was established on June 5 in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone with registered capital of 20 million yuan ($2.9 million). Ant Financial holds a 51 percent stake in the company and Vanguard holds 49 percent, according to Qichacha, a platform delivering business data, credit information and analytics on private and public companies.

The new firm will provide customized services for investors based on their investment objectives, time horizon and risk preferences, with minimum investments of 800 yuan. The services are accessible through the Alipay app, Vanguard said in a press release.

The partnership announcement was made after China launched a number of policies to accelerate the opening-up of its financial industry. The country will lift foreign ownership limits on securities, fund management and futures companies by 2020, a year ahead of schedule, said the Office of the Financial Stability and Development Committee under the State Council on July 20 when it announced a set of measures for further opening-up.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission later said it will step up arrangements to implement the opening-up measures in the financial market.

The partnership between the two companies will combine the advantages of Ant Financial, the operator of the world's leading payment platform Alipay, and Vanguard, a large asset management company that managed $5.9 trillion in global assets as of Oct 31.

"This venture marries Vanguard's time-tested investment philosophy and approach with Ant's digital platform and technology to fundamentally change for the better how individuals in China invest," said Vanguard CEO Tim Buckley.

Eric Jing, chairman and CEO of Ant Financial, said, "Alipay is committed to making finance more inclusive for individuals, as well as small and micro businesses through technology, and we're partnering with financial institutions around the world to achieve this goal by building an open and technology-driven ecosystem.

"Combining our technology with Vanguard's investment advisory expertise will make high-quality wealth management services simpler, smarter and more inclusive."

Vanguard has strived to lower the cost and complexity of investing for more than four decades. It is widely recognized for bringing high-quality, low-cost solutions to more than 30 million investors globally.

Alipay serves over 1.2 billion users around the world with its local e-wallet partners, providing users with access to a wide range of services, ranging from hailing cabsand paying utility bills to wealth management.