After abandoning plans for its own mutual fund company in China in 2021, Vanguard aimed to put teething problems in the country behind it by doubling down on a widely envied partnership with local financial group Ant.
The venture between the world’s second largest asset manager and China’s best-known digital finance business soon attracted the interest and investments of more than 1mn customers on the mainland, in an encouraging sign of the growth prospects in a multi-trillion-dollar investment market.
Fast forward to 2023 and it is unclear whether Vanguard will have any mainland Chinese customers in future. The US-based $8tn fund manager last month briefed the country’s securities watchdog and the Shanghai government on a planned exit from the venture, according to three people familiar with the matter.