Vanguard Group and Ant Financial’s joint venture is rolling out a new robo-advisor to target the Chinese fintech giant’s 900 million users, a first step in winning a slice of the nation’s fast-growing asset management business.
The venture started offering an automated service called “Bang Ni Tou” (Help You Invest), to capture people with at least 800 yuan ($113) to place in mutual funds, Vanguard’s local Shanghai unit said in an emailed statement on Thursday.
While the coronavirus outbreak has rocked the Chinese economy, the nation is proceeding apace with the further opening of its financial industry this month. Foreign asset managers are now rushing in to establish a foothold in a retail funds market that could grow to $3.4 trillion by 2023.
Ant, controlled by billionaire Jack Ma, is a $150 billion juggernaut that operates everything from payments to money market funds and credit scoring. The new joint venture — in which Ant holds a 51% stake and Vanguard 49% — has been approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission.
The company’s automated advisors will evaluate customers based on their goals and risk preferences. Users can access the service through the apps Alipay and Ant Fortune, a wealth management platform.
China’s robo-advisory market is expected to reach 737 billion yuan by 2022, according to a report by Lufax and consultant iResearch. Traditional financial institutions and a slew of fintech startups are gearing up to grab market share, including state-backed giants such as Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and China Merchants Bank Co., according to the report.
Vanguard services 30 million investors globally, managing $6.2 trillion of assets as of January.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.
