Laurence Fink, BlackRock’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement, “The Chinese market represents a significant opportunity to help meet the long-term goals of investors in China and internationally. We are committed to investing in China to offer domestic assets for domestic investors and look forward to creating a better financial future for more people.”

Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC), earlier said that China welcomes more foreign entry into China’s financial sector, including the wealth management space.
Earlier this year, it was reported that US-based investment bank and financial services company JP Morgan is seeking another Chinese wealth management joint venture.

JP Morgan is not the only multinational bank or entity eyeing the wealth management space in China, which is estimated to grow to as much as $30 trillion in 2023. By establishing its joint venture JP Morgan would be competing with a joint venture between Blackrock, Temasek and China Construction Bank, which was approved in August 2020, as well as an Amundi-Bank of China JV.

It was also reported that Citi Group to ramp up its wealth management division in the Asia-Pacific region as part of its push to boost assets under management in the region by $150 billion by 2025.

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Citi Malaysia chief executive officer Lee Lung Nien will take on a bigger role as the chairman of Citi Private bank Southeast Asia.

Lee Lung Nien will operate from Singapore and he will take over his new role from September 1^st.

He will report to Steven Lo, Asia Pacific regional head of Citi Private Bank and Amol Gupte, ASEAN head and country officer for Singapore.

With regard to the appointment of Lee Lung Nien, Steven Lo told the media, “Our franchise in South Asia is critical to the success of our business in the region and globally, and the appointment of Lung speaks to that.”

“The investments we have made here over the past few years have allowed us to focus more closely on serving the unique markets within the region while providing clients with access to the full breadth of our global platform,” he added.

Earlier this year, Citibank announced that it plans to double its wealth management business in Singapore in terms of the number of customers and market share by 2025.

Citibank also launched a new flagship wealth management center in a prime location in Singapore. Spanning over 30,000 square feet, the wealth management center will occupy four floors including two floors for 400 relationship managers and specialists as well as two floors for client meetings and events.

Reportedly, Citibank also plans to develop another wealth management center in Singapore as a part of its plan to double its wealth management business in the country.

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Port and Free Zone World, a subsidiary of Dubai World, has decided to buy publicly listed shares of DP World.

Reportedly, Citi and Deutsche Bank underwrote $9 billion in loans for Port and Free Zone World to acquire shares in DP World. Soon, the two banks began signing up partners to distribute the debt finance.

The other banks involved in the DP World and Dubai World debt finance deal includes Bank of Nova Scotia, Credit Agricole, Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan, Samba Financial Group and Standard Chartered.

According to media reports, DP World will borrow $5.15 billion to fund a dividend to Dubai World, which is the sole shareholder of Port and Free Zone World. The loans, then will be sold to a wider group of banks in the coming weeks.

The de-listing of DP World from Nasdaq Dubai has forced credit rating agency Moody’s to put the firm under review for a potential downgrade.

In a statement, Moody’s said, “The sizable dividend payment to Dubai World breaks our current assumption that DP World’s credit profile is unaffected by the debt burden at the level of Dubai World.”

However, DP World believes the de-listing will help the company fulfill its ambition of becoming the world’s leading end-to-end logistics provider.

In the last one year, DP World has invested significantly in logistics assets all over the world to fulfill its ambition. Earlier this year, the port operator acquired a 44 percent stake in container terminal operator Swissterminal Holding.

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