Chairman Park Hyeon-joo of Mirae Asset Group.(Photo: Mirae Asset Daewoo Securities)

Chairman Park Hyeon-joo of Mirae Asset Group won its first substantial victory from his attempt to explore China’s financial market with the group’s affiliate earning an official license to engage in the PEF business in China.

The Mirae Asset Investment Management Co., a company set up by Chairman Park in China in 2008, secured an official license to sell PEF to Chinese institutional investors and provide consulting services, Mirae Asset Group said on Nov. 20.

From June 2016, the Mirae Asset top manager has been knocking on the door of China’s asset market after it was officially opened to foreign asset management firms for the first time.

Mirae Asset finally wrung out a positive result for the first time in two years by registering the company on the list of the Chinese financial authorities which are allowed to operate in China.

Chairman Park had to overcome a number of tough obstacles on the way to obtaining the license, including the Chinese government’s measures to remove the THAAD installed in Korea by the U.S. military.

Mirae Asset Wealth Management Co.’s local affiliate will now be able to engage in the wealth management market in China, which is as large as $20 trillion now that it got the PFM WFOE license from China’s AMAC and completed its official registration with the Chinese financial authorities.

Mirae Asset Wealth Management Co., under direct management by the chairman, has now joined the seven foreign financial firms having the PFN licenses with the QDLP.

Foreign financial firms were allowed to operate in China with the partnership with local financial companies in the past, with China’s financial market not yet fully open until January this year when a fully independent foreign financial company was allowed to operate in China.

The foreign financial companies what won the licenses included Fidelity, UBS, Blackrock and Bridgewater. Mirae Asset became the 16th foreign firm to win a license and the first Korean financial firm to do so, excluding countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and others in the Pan-China sphere.

Mirae Asset’s operation in China would include the sale of funds to be invested in local bonds, and providing consultations to the foreign financial firms that are allowed to operate in China. During the early stages of its local affiliate’s operation, the company will try to expand its operation all over China, no longer limited to the pan-China businesses and the support for research. When the company won the QDLP license in August, it started to sell the Mirae Asset funds in the mainland China.

The company will be entitled to manage the funds of a number of financial companies and institutions in China as it will win the rights to do so a year later. It will also be able to apply for the license to be a public asset management firm as the legal restrictions on assets owned by foreign financial companies will be removed.

All these have been possible for the company due to Mirae Asset Wealth Management’s global investment capacity won the extensive recognition as its trust money given to the company for management by foreign firms amounted to 32 trillion won as of the end of October with 11 trillion won entrusted this year along.

Mirae Asset Financial Group has created a structure that enables its subsidiaries to operate effectively and efficiently while taking advantage of synergies. Having secured a widely recognized brand in Korea and in overseas markets such as London and Hong Kong, Mirae Asset Global Investments has utilized its excellent investment management capabilities to increase the volume of asset under management.