OCN Group Announces Business Expansion

Chengdu, China--(Newsfile Corp. - July 26, 2022) - OCN Group, based in Chengdu, announced they are expanding their company's remit to access new opportunities arising due to the opening up of China's capital markets to overseas entities and investors.

"China's relatively young and fast-growing financial markets are welcoming more overseas involvement and looking to open up further, building on the significant changes we have already seen over the past ten years," said Nathan Kelly, Head of Private Wealth, at OCN Group.

Over the last decade, the country's equity and bond markets grew 239% and 445%, respectively, and now rank as the second biggest in the world, according to OCN Group. The expansion has also attracted an increasing number of foreign private and institutional investors, greater investment opportunities, and given rise to several financial bellwethers.

Kelly continued, "looking forward, China's financial sector remains committed to unrelenting reform and securing long-term stability. As a company that has experienced these changes firsthand over the last few years, we aim to take advantage of the reforms to benefit our clients and grow our business."

Although hurdles still exist, Kelly acknowledged China's financial markets had made great strides to appeal more to the global investment market by reforming rules to allow and encourage entry for foreign entities.

"A significant step forward was introducing a registration-based IPO system, first trialed at the Sci-Tech Innovation Board (SSE STAR Market) in 2019, which showed that China's capital markets were taking a more market-oriented turn," he said.

"This helped open up China's capital markets, making the equity market more investment-worthy and paved the way for a broader capital market opening," Kelly continued, adding, "in addition, China launched the STAR Market three years ago to supplement the blue chip-led main boards in Shanghai and Shenzhen to promote financing for innovative and smaller companies."

In acknowledgment of the steps made in China's capital markets, major international benchmarks such as MSCI, the S&P Dow Jones, and the FTSE Russell have included A-shares and increased their weightings. In addition, China's government bonds have also been added to three major world bond market indices.

"A more welcoming playing field has benefited domestic Chinese financial institutions and investors and those from overseas," according to Mr. David Costa, OCN Group's Head of Specialist Accounts. "The expansion of China's capital markets over the past decade has encouraged financial services providers, including brokerages, mutual funds, and banks, with the total assets under management of China's futures and securities brokers increasing six times over the period, while public offering funds now manage 26 trillion yuan of assets ($3.8 trillion), close to ten times that of a decade ago," he continued.

"China removed foreign ownership limits for securities, fund management, futures, and life insurance companies to attract overseas investors. It also enabled overseas institutional investors to invest directly in the exchange bond market," Mr. Costa noted.

"China has made good progress in opening its financial market and integrating its domestic markets into the broader world markets over recent years. We believe the momentum will continue. OCN Group welcomes and continues to benefit from China's financial market opening," said Mr. Costa, adding, "China's simplified market access rules are a big positive for us and enable us to continue expanding our business."

"In due time, China will be home to one of the world's leading financial centers, but to make this a reality, there must be more transparency, stricter (enforced) laws, long-term credit for the RMB, and more robust listed companies," said Nathan Kelly, adding, "more foreign access to the Chinese financial markets would also be welcome."

"We are firm believers in the long-term growth prospect and the wealth of opportunities that the continued opening of the Chinese financial markets offers," Mr. Kelly commented.

OCN Group is a partly foreign-owned and managed investment management company that has operated out of Chengdu since 2008, serving the investment needs of domestic, international, and ex-pat clients. For more information on OCN Group's services, visit their website at https://www.ocngroup.com/ or email [email protected].

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