BlackRock said that it, along with, state investor Temasek and China Construction Bank Corp received a licence from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

“This partnership is consistent with the US-China efforts to open the Chinese market to US financial services firms,” BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, said in an emailed statement on Saturday.

BlackRock is the second foreign company to receive the licence and joins the world’s largest asset managers and investment banks like JPMorgan Chase & Co in expanding in the Asian nation.

While the further liberalisation of the sector in China has been overshadowed by the virus crisis, companies are still pursuing plans for a market in which the value of retail funds alone could reach US$3.4 trillion in three years.

BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said China remains one of the firm’s top regions for growth despite uncertainties brought on by tensions with the US and the virus.

Even with current trade tensions, China will continue to attract global investments, especially in Shanghai, as more investors seek exposure to onshore assets, Fink said in June.

With more than US$7 trillion assets under management, BlackRock is attempting to crack the China market in multiple ways.

Led in the region by Geraldine Buckingham in Hong Kong, the company is also applying for licences to set up wholly-owned mutual fund firms in China, people familiar have said. That’s in addition to holding a 16.5% stake in a joint venture with Bank of China Ltd.

Amundi SA, Europe’s largest asset-management company, and BOC Wealth Management, the subsidiary of Bank of China, received approval in December to set up a wealth-management venture.