This article was originally posted on Caterer Goodman’s online blog: China Expat Money.

Foreigners living in China can now buy Chinese stock market funds.  Yes it is true!

That little government announcement slipped through this week and seems to have been ignored by mainstream media.  Probably since it doesn’t have any effect on the vast majority of people globally.  It only applies to expatriates living in China.  That however is our key clientele so we will break down several issues we think it raises.

We will run through a quick list in this post, but this is a topic we are likely to come back to and add more depth as things develop.

Firstly, it demonstrates, yet again, that the Chinese government is determined to support the Chinese stock market.  This stands in stark contrast to…

the property market where the Chinese government announced new taxes and new curbs designed property prices.  Get the picture?  Stock market investment good.  Property speculation bad.  The Chinese government preference is pretty clear.

Secondly, it gives foreigners, finally, something interesting to do with their spare Mao.  Until now, foreigners had two interesting choices.  Buying through an un-transparent Chinese unit linked insurance product or your money into a Chinese trust company (assuming you had 1 million RMB you didn’t need for around two years).

Thirdly, it opens a whole series of questions such as

• Where do I buy?
• What documents do I need?
• What should I look to buy?
• Should I even bother looking?

These are the questions we will look at over the coming weeks.

Happy Qingming Festival To you all! 

About Caterer Goodman Partners

Caterer Goodman Partners is a Shanghai based wealth management firm established with a clear vision to provide a new level of personalized financial planning services for expatriates in Asia. Our financial advisors provide guidance for our clients in all areas of investment, specialising in managed accounts, money-market funds, retirement planning and alternative investments. At Caterer Goodman Partners, we offer our advice and experience to provide low cost, tax-effective and simple solutions to match our clients’ interests.

About Owen Caterer

Since graduation Mr Owen Caterer has worked with the Queensland Premier's Department in Trade Facilitation and then as a financial adviser in Shanghai from 2005 until 2010.  He then rose to Senior Adviser, then Business Development manager and then to Chief Investment Officer responsible for portfolios to a value of US$280 million across Asia. Following that Mr Caterer left to found his own firm with a partner in the financial advisory and wealth management area.   This focused on developing China and Asia's first fee-based financial advisory (rather than commission-based). This has grown to now have 8 staff and and managing almost US$35 million for clients throughout Asia. This business success was recognized as a finalist in the 2013 ACBA in the Start Up Enterprises category and are one of a small number of foreign managed firms to have a full asset management license in China.  Owen has also been active in the community volunteering for the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and acting as the Vice-Chair of the Small Business Working Group (2012-2014) and as the Co-Deputy Chair of the Financial Services since 2013 until the present. They have continued to grow their business and have now been selected as a small group of companies who are platinum members of the Australian chamber of commerce. The achievement they are most proud of is their efforts to reform the financial planning industry in China and push it away from a hard-sales commission driven model to a more ethical management fee and long term customer service model.   Owen has a Graduate Diploma of Applied Finance from the Securities Institute of Australia of which he was a member as a Fellow of Finance for many years and also has an undergraduate degree from Griffith University in International Business.  Owen's interests are tennis, running and his wife and two children.  He speaks fluent Chinese, first arriving in China in 1997.