On September 24, 2020, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (“CBIRC”) approved the opening of Amundi BOC Wealth Management Co. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Amundi BOC Wealth Management”). Amundi BOC Wealth Management is the first foreign-controlled wealth management company established in China and approved to open by CBIRC..  According to the approval of CBIRC, Amundi BOC Wealth Management has a registered capital of RMB 1 billion and its registered place is Shanghai Lingang Free Trade Zone. It mainly engages in the issuance of publicly offered wealth management products, the issuance of privately offered wealth management products, wealth management advisor, consulting and other asset management related businesses.

Amundi BOC Wealth Management is a joint venture established by Amundi Asset Management, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amundi, the largest asset management company in Europe, and BOC Wealth Management Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned wealth management subsidiary of Bank of China. The establishment and opening of Amundi BOC Wealth Management is conducive to introducing the professional experience of international advanced asset management institutions in terms of business philosophy, operation management mechanism, asset portfolio management, risk management, etc., while giving full play to Chinese shareholders’ in-depth understanding of the domestic financial market and investment capabilities, etc.; It also helps to further enrich the main body and product types of the asset management market and satisfy investors’ diversified service needs.

In accordance with the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions on financial opening “should be early but not late, fast and not slow”, the establishment and opening of Amundi BOC Wealth Management is a positive response to the “Relevant Measures for Further Expanding the Opening Up of the Financial Industry” , an important measure to further open the financial industry to the outside world and a representative case of foreign bancassurance institutions approved by CBIRC.

As the sole legal counsel of Amundi BOC Wealth Management’s preparatory team in this project, King & Wood Mallesons (“KWM”) was deeply involved in all aspects of the preparatory phase of the opening of Amundi BOC Wealth Management, including assisting Amundi BOC Wealth Management in sorting out the tasks of opening preparatory work, preparing and submitting the opening application documents, communicating with regulatory authorities and providing legal opinions on related issues, etc. KWM provided high-efficiency, high-quality and professional legal services in this project, which was highly appreciated by clients. The establishment of Amundi BOC Wealth Management is a groundbreaking case for KWM to successfully establish the first joint venture wealth management company after assisting Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Everbright Bank, China Merchants Bank, and Ping An Bank to establish wealth management subsidiaries. It is also a major representative case of KWM’s response to the further opening up of the financial industry.

KWM Partner Su Zheng and Liu Linlin led the project. Antitrust business Partner Chai Zhifeng and intellectual property business Partner Liao Fei provided clients with comprehensive professional legal services from various business perspectives.