(Yicai Global) May 26 -- Goldman Sachs has become the latest foreign financial firm to win regulatory approval from Chinese authorities to set up a wealth management joint venture in which it holds a majority stake, this time with the world’s biggest bank by assets Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission has approved a new wealth management JV in which Goldman Sachs Asset Management owns 51 percent equity and ICBC Wealth Management the rest, the New York-based multinational investment bank and financial services company said yesterday.

It is the third such venture to be given the green light. French investment firm Amundi’s wealth management JV with the Bank of China started operating in September last year, and US asset manager BlackRock and Singaporean sovereign fund Temasek Holdings were given the nod to go ahead with China Construction Bank in August last year.

The Goldman Sachs JV, targeting China's new rich, will gradually develop a wide range of investment products for the Chinese market, including quantitative investment strategies, cross-border solutions and innovative products in alternatives, it said.

“China’s wealth management industry has grown on the back of increased household wealth and continued financial market reform,” said Tuan Lam, head of client business at Asia Pacific ex-Japan, Goldman Sachs Asset Management. “This JV with China’s preeminent financial institution ICBC will accelerate our objective of establishing a leadership position in one of the world’s largest, fastest-growing wealth management opportunities.”

Chinese households’ investable assets will amount to CNY450 trillion (USD70.4 trillion) by 2030, and about 60 percent of these assets will be invested in securities, publicly-offered funds, wealth management products and many other kinds of non-deposit items, according to Goldman Sachs’ Global Investment Research.

China has been opening up its capital markets to overseas firms in recent years, lifting a number of previous ownership caps. Last December Goldman Sachs became the first overseas bank to take full control of its China securities JV.

Editors: Xu Wei, Kim Taylor