There was no explicit rule prohibiting majority or wholly foreign-owned private securities investment fund managers, but in practice, AMAC did not accept applications from WFOEs or Sino-foreign JVs, said Zhen Chen, a private equity partner at Fangda Partners. The agency considered these to be private counterparts of mutual fund management companies, which were subject to a 49% foreign cap if not set up under CEPA [the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement].

Chen said that the registration aspect of the Q&A repeats regulations issued earlier this year that require all private fund managers—for both private equity and securities investment—to register with AMAC before marketing any funds or conducting management activities. But the Q&A expressly says that the secondary market is now 100% legally open to WFOEs and foreign JVs.

The move follows the eighth Strategic and Economic Dialogue with the U.S. held in June in Beijing and the seventh Economic and Financial Dialogue with the UK in September 2015. China also expanded access to its $8.5 trillion interbank bond market to all foreign investors in February this year.

Registration requirements

According to the Q&A, foreign investors need to meet certain conditions to register with AMAC:

• The private securities fund management company must be incorporated in the PRC.
• The foreign shareholder of the company must be a financial institution approved or licensed by the financial regulatory authority of its home country, which has a memorandum of understanding in place with the CSRC.
• The foreign shareholder of the company must not have been subject to any severe sanction or penalty imposed by its regulator or judiciary body in the last three years.

Registered private securities fund managers must also operate in, and raise funds within, the PRC, provide asset management services to domestic investors, invest in Chinese markets and, unless otherwise permitted by the CSRC, make investment decisions (such as for securities and futures trading) independently without placing orders through an offshore entity or system.

Filing process

Private fund management companies first need to register with the local Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) and State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) bureaus.

The second step is to submit the application to AMAC. “This involves a rigorous review of qualifications, track record and internal control mechanisms,” said Wang. “It also requires the issuance of a legal opinion by a PRC law firm and, somewhat similar to the IPO process, once everything is submitted and reviewed by AMAC it will comment on areas that may need more clarity—this could take several rounds of back and forth.”

The Q&A also states that AMAC will publish qualified managers on its website within 20 working days of receiving the set of application materials.

Enhanced scrutiny

The Q&A sets out post-approval requirements for fund managers, such as quarterly and annual information reports as well as ad hoc notifications on any major changes.

Domestic private fund and asset managers have been subject to heightened compliance burdens and tighter CSRC and AMAC regulations following the 2015 A-share crash that wiped out $5 trillion from Chinese stock markets.

“For instance, AMAC has enhanced private fund managers' requirements for information disclosure, internal control systems and fundraising, and even turned its original record filing procedure into de facto approval,” said Fangda's Chen.

There are also guidelines stating that private securities investment funds aren't permitted to invest without filing and that AMAC may even provide comments to fund contracts, she said.

Private fund managers that have not filed any products with AMAC before the new registration rules were released are required to submit a legal opinion on their compliance with AMAC's control regimes and standards before a certain deadline. Failure to do so will lead to their registration being revoked.

Companies are also subject to the restrictions on organizing new funds. For example, new funds are not allowed to mix private equity and securities investments, and new private securities investment funds that target mixed investments (such as stocks and bonds) may no longer have the freedom to easily invest anywhere from 0% to 100%.

AMAC has issued guidelines on fund contracts as well, and although it has claimed to accept filings that do not strictly follow its template, in practice, clearance can depend on the working officials' understanding of the review process.

“Some fund managers will revise their own contracts to align more with AMAC's guidelines just to be safe,” said Chen.

Previously, foreign asset managers and hedge funds had to resort to 'consultant' arrangements with local firms as a means of indirectly tapping China's markets, as the law wasn't clear in terms of what they could and couldn't do.

“This is exactly what the regulators are seeking to address as part of the efforts to clean up the fund industry in China,” said Wang. “They want to set clear guidelines for managers and investment advisors in terms of responsibilities and liabilities.” And while advisors currently may also need to be registered under certain circumstances, they aren't yet subject to the same level of scrutiny and stringent requirements as asset managers. This is most likely where the regulators will move to next, Wang added.

Tax implications

A KPMG China alert on the development highlights several PRC tax considerations:

• Foreign investors may face PRC tax and transfer pricing implications, especially if they set up more than one onshore institution to handle different types of asset management businesses.
• There may also be taxed on different fund structures, as the taxation of a partnership form of an investment fund differs from that of a contractual form. Many uncertainties still remain surrounding tax reporting requirements and the tax treatment of investment returns, distribution and redemptions. The final step of the VAT reform, which affects the financial services sector, could also have an impact.
• China's base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) initiative and the State Administration of Taxation's recently released country-by-country reporting requirement could have transfer pricing implications on cross-border transactions. Special attention must be paid where there is any service provision arrangement between the domestic and overseas affiliated asset management companies.

By Katherine Jo

这一政策变动最早由中国证券监督管理委员会在 6 月 30 日的声明中简要宣布，允许海外实体在中国设立资产管理业务，并向本地资本市场投入资金。当天晚些时候，中国证券投资基金业协会 (中国基金业协会) 发布《私募基金登记备案相关问题解答（十）》，提供了有关具体申请程序的更详细问答。作为简化中国金融市场准入机制并促进人民币国际化的重大举措，中国已允许外国全资企业和外国合资公司申请中国国内的私募投资基金许可执照。

“这对于中国次级证券市场投资和交易是一项关键突破，在市场利益相关者和监管机构对如何修订含糊不清的准入规定讨论数年后终于问世了。”汉坤律师事务所北京投资基金合伙人王勇表示。

虽然此政策放松限于在中国管理人民币基金，而不涉及跨境资本流，但外国基金管理人现将可合法地将在中国的收益转移回其本国。“这要求管理公司通过相对例行公事的流程向指定外汇银行申请批准，就像是其他任何外商投资企业一样。”王勇说道。

方达律师事务所的私募股权合伙人陈瑱表示，虽然并未明确规定禁止主要或全部由外资所有的私募证券投资基金管理人入市，但在实践中，中国基金业协会从不接受外国全资企业或中外合资企业的申请。监管机构将此类公司视为共同基金管理公司的私募同行，此类管理公司受 49% 外资上限约束（如不属于根据《内地与香港关于建立更紧密经贸关系的安排》(CEPA) 成立）。

陈瑱补充道，此问答所述的登记规定重复了今年早些时候发布的法规，要求所有私募基金（包括私募股权和证券投资）管理人在营销任何基金或进行管理活动前向中国基金业协会登记备案。但此问答明确指出，次级市场目前依法向外国全资企业和外国合资企业完全开放。

这一举措源于今年 6 月在北京举行的第八轮中美战略与经济对话和 2015 年 9 月举行的第七轮中英经济财金对话。中国还在今年二月进一步开放其价值 8.5 万亿美元的银行间债券市场至所有外国投资者。

登记要求

根据此问答，外国投资者需要符合特定条件才能向中国基金业协会登记：

• 私募证券基金管理公司必须在中国境内成立。
• 该公司的境外股东为所在国家或者地区金融监管当局批准或者许可的金融机构，且该金融监管当局已与中国证监会达成谅解备忘录。
• 境外股东最近三年没有受到监管机构和司法机构的重大处罚。

登记备案的私募证券基金管理人还必须在中国境内开展业务和筹集资金、向国内投资者提供资产管理服务、在中国市场投资，并（除非另外获得中国证监会许可）在不通过海外实体或系统下指令的情况下，独立作出投资决策（例如对于证券和期货交易）。

申请流程

首先，私募基金管理公司需要向商务部、国家工商行政管理总局和国家外汇管理局地方部门进行登记。

第二步是向中国基金业协会提交申请。“这涉及对资质、业绩记录和内部管控机制的严格审查。”王勇表示，“还要求获得中国律所的法律意见，而且类似于 IPO 流程，在提交所有材料并经中国基金业协会审核后，将收到有关待阐明方面的备注要求，这可能会经历数个来回。”

此问答还指出，中国基金业协会将在收到申请材料的 20 个工作日内，在其网站上公布符合条件的管理人名单。

加强审查

此问答还对基金管理人规定了获批后要求，例如提交季度和年度信息报告，以及有关任何重大变更的特别通知。

国内私募基金和资产管理人已在 2015 年 A 股动荡（导致中国股票市场损失 5 万亿美元）之后，受到更高的合规要求以及更严的中国证监会和中国基金业协会法规约束。

“比方说，中国基金业协会增强了信息披露、内部管控系统和筹资方面的私募基金管理者要求，而且甚至将其原备案流程调整为实际审批。”方达律所的陈瑱说道，

“另有一些准则要求私募证券投资基金不得在未备案的情况下开展投资，且中国基金业协会甚至可能对基金合同提供指导意见。”

未在新登记备案规定发布前向中国基金业协会备案产品的私募基金管理者需要在规定的时限内，提交有关已遵循中国基金业协会管控机制和标准要求的法律意见。未采取此类行动将导致登记备案遭到撤消。

公司筹办新基金也有限制。例如，新基金不得混合私募股权和证券投资，且针对组合投资（例如股票和债券）的新私募证券投资基金可能无法再轻松地进行 0% 到 100% 比例的任何投资。

中国基金业协会还已发布有关基金合同的准则规定，尽管宣称接受未严格遵循模板的申请，但在实践中，是否许可可能取决于负责官员对审核流程的认知。

陈瑱表示，“为确保合规，某些基金经理根据中国基金业协会的规定对自己的合同进行了修改。”

以前，外国资产管理者和对冲基金必须依赖与本地公司的“顾问”协议来间接进入中国市场，因为法律并未明确规定其业务和禁令范围。

“监管机构正是希望解决这一问题，进而清理中国基金行业, ”王勇说道，“他们希望为资产管理者和投资顾问设立清晰明确的职责和责任准则。”而且，虽然目前顾问也可能需要在特定情况下进行登记，但尚无需像资产管理者一样受到详细审查和严格要求。王勇补充道，这极有可能是监管机构的下一步目标。

税务问题

对于这一准入开放，可能需要进行以下税务考虑：

• 外国投资者可能会受到中国税务和转让定价影响，尤其是如果在中国成立了多个机构来处理不同类型的资产管理业务。
• 纳税事项可能因不同基金结构而异，合伙性质的投资基金就面临与合同形式不同的纳税要求。纳税申报以及投资收益、股利分发和赎回的税收待遇仍具有相当的不确定性。涉及金融服务行业的营改增改革也可能会产生影响。
• 中国的税基侵蚀和利润转移 (BEPS) 项目以及国家税务总局近期发布的国别报告要求可能对跨境交易产生转让定价影响。如果国内和海外关联资产管理公司之间有任何服务提供协议，应加以特别关注。

（作者：赵修敏）

In a major move to ease access to China's financial sector and internationalize its currency, the nation has allowed wholly foreign-owned enterprises (WFOEs) and foreign joint ventures (JVs) to apply for domestic private investment fund licenses.

The change, which will enable the overseas entities to set up asset management services in China and put money into local capital markets, was first announced in a brief June 30 statement by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). It was supplemented later that day with a more detailed Q&A on the filing procedures released by the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC), the Questions and Answers Concerning Registration and Record Filing of Private Funds (10).

“This is a very critical breakthrough for investment and trading on China's secondary securities market as it comes after years of discussion among industry stakeholders and regulators on amending vague entry regulations,” said James Wang, an investment funds partner at Han Kun Law Offices in Beijing.

While the relaxation is limited to managing renminbi funds in China without engaging in cross-border capital flows, foreign fund managers will now be able to legally convert and repatriate onshore proceeds to their offshore parent. “This requires the management company to apply to a designated foreign exchange bank for approval in a relatively routine process, just like for any other FIE [foreign-invested enterprise],” Wang said.

There was no explicit rule prohibiting majority or wholly foreign-owned private securities investment fund managers, but in practice, AMAC did not accept applications from WFOEs or Sino-foreign JVs, said Zhen Chen, a private equity partner at Fangda Partners. The agency considered these to be private counterparts of mutual fund management companies, which were subject to a 49% foreign cap if not set up under CEPA [the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement].

Chen said that the registration aspect of the Q&A repeats regulations issued earlier this year that require all private fund managers—for both private equity and securities investment—to register with AMAC before marketing any funds or conducting management activities. But the Q&A expressly says that the secondary market is now 100% legally open to WFOEs and foreign JVs.

The move follows the eighth Strategic and Economic Dialogue with the U.S. held in June in Beijing and the seventh Economic and Financial Dialogue with the UK in September 2015. China also expanded access to its $8.5 trillion interbank bond market to all foreign investors in February this year.

Registration requirements

According to the Q&A, foreign investors need to meet certain conditions to register with AMAC:

• The private securities fund management company must be incorporated in the PRC.
• The foreign shareholder of the company must be a financial institution approved or licensed by the financial regulatory authority of its home country, which has a memorandum of understanding in place with the CSRC.
• The foreign shareholder of the company must not have been subject to any severe sanction or penalty imposed by its regulator or judiciary body in the last three years.

Registered private securities fund managers must also operate in, and raise funds within, the PRC, provide asset management services to domestic investors, invest in Chinese markets and, unless otherwise permitted by the CSRC, make investment decisions (such as for securities and futures trading) independently without placing orders through an offshore entity or system.

Filing process

Private fund management companies first need to register with the local Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) and State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) bureaus.

The second step is to submit the application to AMAC. “This involves a rigorous review of qualifications, track record and internal control mechanisms,” said Wang. “It also requires the issuance of a legal opinion by a PRC law firm and, somewhat similar to the IPO process, once everything is submitted and reviewed by AMAC it will comment on areas that may need more clarity—this could take several rounds of back and forth.”

The Q&A also states that AMAC will publish qualified managers on its website within 20 working days of receiving the set of application materials.

Enhanced scrutiny

The Q&A sets out post-approval requirements for fund managers, such as quarterly and annual information reports as well as ad hoc notifications on any major changes.

Domestic private fund and asset managers have been subject to heightened compliance burdens and tighter CSRC and AMAC regulations following the 2015 A-share crash that wiped out $5 trillion from Chinese stock markets.

“For instance, AMAC has enhanced private fund managers' requirements for information disclosure, internal control systems and fundraising, and even turned its original record filing procedure into de facto approval,” said Fangda's Chen.

There are also guidelines stating that private securities investment funds aren't permitted to invest without filing and that AMAC may even provide comments to fund contracts, she said.

Private fund managers that have not filed any products with AMAC before the new registration rules were released are required to submit a legal opinion on their compliance with AMAC's control regimes and standards before a certain deadline. Failure to do so will lead to their registration being revoked.

Companies are also subject to the restrictions on organizing new funds. For example, new funds are not allowed to mix private equity and securities investments, and new private securities investment funds that target mixed investments (such as stocks and bonds) may no longer have the freedom to easily invest anywhere from 0% to 100%.

AMAC has issued guidelines on fund contracts as well, and although it has claimed to accept filings that do not strictly follow its template, in practice, clearance can depend on the working officials' understanding of the review process.

“Some fund managers will revise their own contracts to align more with AMAC's guidelines just to be safe,” said Chen.

Previously, foreign asset managers and hedge funds had to resort to 'consultant' arrangements with local firms as a means of indirectly tapping China's markets, as the law wasn't clear in terms of what they could and couldn't do.

“This is exactly what the regulators are seeking to address as part of the efforts to clean up the fund industry in China,” said Wang. “They want to set clear guidelines for managers and investment advisors in terms of responsibilities and liabilities.” And while advisors currently may also need to be registered under certain circumstances, they aren't yet subject to the same level of scrutiny and stringent requirements as asset managers. This is most likely where the regulators will move to next, Wang added.

Tax implications

A KPMG China alert on the development highlights several PRC tax considerations:

• Foreign investors may face PRC tax and transfer pricing implications, especially if they set up more than one onshore institution to handle different types of asset management businesses.
• There may also be taxed on different fund structures, as the taxation of a partnership form of an investment fund differs from that of a contractual form. Many uncertainties still remain surrounding tax reporting requirements and the tax treatment of investment returns, distribution and redemptions. The final step of the VAT reform, which affects the financial services sector, could also have an impact.
• China's base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) initiative and the State Administration of Taxation's recently released country-by-country reporting requirement could have transfer pricing implications on cross-border transactions. Special attention must be paid where there is any service provision arrangement between the domestic and overseas affiliated asset management companies.

By Katherine Jo

这一政策变动最早由中国证券监督管理委员会在 6 月 30 日的声明中简要宣布，允许海外实体在中国设立资产管理业务，并向本地资本市场投入资金。当天晚些时候，中国证券投资基金业协会 (中国基金业协会) 发布《私募基金登记备案相关问题解答（十）》，提供了有关具体申请程序的更详细问答。作为简化中国金融市场准入机制并促进人民币国际化的重大举措，中国已允许外国全资企业和外国合资公司申请中国国内的私募投资基金许可执照。

“这对于中国次级证券市场投资和交易是一项关键突破，在市场利益相关者和监管机构对如何修订含糊不清的准入规定讨论数年后终于问世了。”汉坤律师事务所北京投资基金合伙人王勇表示。

虽然此政策放松限于在中国管理人民币基金，而不涉及跨境资本流，但外国基金管理人现将可合法地将在中国的收益转移回其本国。“这要求管理公司通过相对例行公事的流程向指定外汇银行申请批准，就像是其他任何外商投资企业一样。”王勇说道。

方达律师事务所的私募股权合伙人陈瑱表示，虽然并未明确规定禁止主要或全部由外资所有的私募证券投资基金管理人入市，但在实践中，中国基金业协会从不接受外国全资企业或中外合资企业的申请。监管机构将此类公司视为共同基金管理公司的私募同行，此类管理公司受 49% 外资上限约束（如不属于根据《内地与香港关于建立更紧密经贸关系的安排》(CEPA) 成立）。

陈瑱补充道，此问答所述的登记规定重复了今年早些时候发布的法规，要求所有私募基金（包括私募股权和证券投资）管理人在营销任何基金或进行管理活动前向中国基金业协会登记备案。但此问答明确指出，次级市场目前依法向外国全资企业和外国合资企业完全开放。

这一举措源于今年 6 月在北京举行的第八轮中美战略与经济对话和 2015 年 9 月举行的第七轮中英经济财金对话。中国还在今年二月进一步开放其价值 8.5 万亿美元的银行间债券市场至所有外国投资者。

登记要求

根据此问答，外国投资者需要符合特定条件才能向中国基金业协会登记：

• 私募证券基金管理公司必须在中国境内成立。
• 该公司的境外股东为所在国家或者地区金融监管当局批准或者许可的金融机构，且该金融监管当局已与中国证监会达成谅解备忘录。
• 境外股东最近三年没有受到监管机构和司法机构的重大处罚。

登记备案的私募证券基金管理人还必须在中国境内开展业务和筹集资金、向国内投资者提供资产管理服务、在中国市场投资，并（除非另外获得中国证监会许可）在不通过海外实体或系统下指令的情况下，独立作出投资决策（例如对于证券和期货交易）。

申请流程

首先，私募基金管理公司需要向商务部、国家工商行政管理总局和国家外汇管理局地方部门进行登记。

第二步是向中国基金业协会提交申请。“这涉及对资质、业绩记录和内部管控机制的严格审查。”王勇表示，“还要求获得中国律所的法律意见，而且类似于 IPO 流程，在提交所有材料并经中国基金业协会审核后，将收到有关待阐明方面的备注要求，这可能会经历数个来回。”

此问答还指出，中国基金业协会将在收到申请材料的 20 个工作日内，在其网站上公布符合条件的管理人名单。

加强审查

此问答还对基金管理人规定了获批后要求，例如提交季度和年度信息报告，以及有关任何重大变更的特别通知。

国内私募基金和资产管理人已在 2015 年 A 股动荡（导致中国股票市场损失 5 万亿美元）之后，受到更高的合规要求以及更严的中国证监会和中国基金业协会法规约束。

“比方说，中国基金业协会增强了信息披露、内部管控系统和筹资方面的私募基金管理者要求，而且甚至将其原备案流程调整为实际审批。”方达律所的陈瑱说道，

“另有一些准则要求私募证券投资基金不得在未备案的情况下开展投资，且中国基金业协会甚至可能对基金合同提供指导意见。”

未在新登记备案规定发布前向中国基金业协会备案产品的私募基金管理者需要在规定的时限内，提交有关已遵循中国基金业协会管控机制和标准要求的法律意见。未采取此类行动将导致登记备案遭到撤消。

公司筹办新基金也有限制。例如，新基金不得混合私募股权和证券投资，且针对组合投资（例如股票和债券）的新私募证券投资基金可能无法再轻松地进行 0% 到 100% 比例的任何投资。

中国基金业协会还已发布有关基金合同的准则规定，尽管宣称接受未严格遵循模板的申请，但在实践中，是否许可可能取决于负责官员对审核流程的认知。

陈瑱表示，“为确保合规，某些基金经理根据中国基金业协会的规定对自己的合同进行了修改。”

以前，外国资产管理者和对冲基金必须依赖与本地公司的“顾问”协议来间接进入中国市场，因为法律并未明确规定其业务和禁令范围。

“监管机构正是希望解决这一问题，进而清理中国基金行业, ”王勇说道，“他们希望为资产管理者和投资顾问设立清晰明确的职责和责任准则。”而且，虽然目前顾问也可能需要在特定情况下进行登记，但尚无需像资产管理者一样受到详细审查和严格要求。王勇补充道，这极有可能是监管机构的下一步目标。

税务问题

对于这一准入开放，可能需要进行以下税务考虑：

• 外国投资者可能会受到中国税务和转让定价影响，尤其是如果在中国成立了多个机构来处理不同类型的资产管理业务。
• 纳税事项可能因不同基金结构而异，合伙性质的投资基金就面临与合同形式不同的纳税要求。纳税申报以及投资收益、股利分发和赎回的税收待遇仍具有相当的不确定性。涉及金融服务行业的营改增改革也可能会产生影响。
• 中国的税基侵蚀和利润转移 (BEPS) 项目以及国家税务总局近期发布的国别报告要求可能对跨境交易产生转让定价影响。如果国内和海外关联资产管理公司之间有任何服务提供协议，应加以特别关注。

（作者：赵修敏）