Schroders has become the latest fund manager to apply for a licence for a wholly-owned subsidiary in China, following a rule change earlier this year that means western companies no longer have to operate through asset management joint-ventures in the country.

Schroders applied to the Shanghai Administration for Industry and Commerce on October 27 to set up the Schroder Investment Management Consulting (Shanghai) Company. The UK-listed manager already has representative offices in Beijing and Shanghai, but these are not able to proactively market to Chinese domestic investors.