(Yicai Global) March 6 -- American asset manager AllianceBernstein Holding has become the eighth foreign institution to secure a mutual fund license in China.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission gave the go-ahead for the Nashville-headquartered investment manager to set up a mainland-based fund management unit, fully owned by AllianceBernstein Hong Kong, with CNY100 million (USD14.4 million) in registered capital, the regulator said in a statement on its website recently. The process started in November 2020 when AllianceBernstein Hong Kong submitted its application.

Eight overseas institutions, including BlackRock and Fidelity Investments, have gained approvals from Chinese regulators to form new mutual fund companies or hike their shareholding in Chinese ventures to 100 percent since the government opened access to the sector. Four firms have won approvals this year, including London-based Schroders, as well as New York-headquartered JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Morgan Stanley.

After the shareholding limits were scrapped, BlackRock was No. 1 in getting the green light and since then, the American investing behemoth has issued five mutual fund products on the mainland. Meanwhile, Fidelity and Neuberger Berman Group are preparing to issue their first products.

Founded in 1967, AllianceBernstein does business in 26 countries and regions around the world, managing as much as USD646 billion worth of assets as of Dec. 31, 2022, according to its website. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1988.

The American financial giant has deep roots in China. AllianceBernstein became a qualified foreign institutional investor in the Asian country in 2008. It set up a wholly-owned unit in Shanghai in 2015 to offer investment consulting services.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi