China licenses new category of fund distributor

The world of mutual fund distribution in China has advanced another step with the recent licensing of TX Investment Consulting to sell third-party funds. Until now, only commercial banks, securities companies and mutual fund companies have been allowed to sell mutual funds. But the current arrangement has led to a problematic bottleneck, as the banks, in particular the big four state-owned ones, have dominated distribution. The number of fund companies now exceeds the number of fund launches the banks are capable of supporting.