Wealth management venture approved

China's banking and insurance regulator said on Friday that it has approved the establishment of the first foreign majorityowned wealth management firm in China. French asset manager Amundi Asset Management will own a controlling 55 percent stake in the wealth management joint venture while Bank of China Wealth Management will own a 45 percent stake, according to the regulator. The establishment of the wealth management JV is in line with China's policy to further open its financial industry to foreign players, an official at the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said during a news briefing in Beijing.

Nomura securities JV starts operations

Japanese financial group Nomura Holding's majority-owned securities joint venture in China, Nomura Orient International Securities, officially started operations in Shanghai on Friday. This marks the first time a foreign-controlled securities JV has been established since China elevated ownership caps to start operations. Nomura Orient is allowed to carry out brokerage, investment consulting, proprietary trading, and asset management businesses in China, and is committed to form a core part of Nomura Holding's strategy in Asia (excluding Japan).

Patent attorneys exceed 20,000

The nation had more than 20,000 licensed patent attorneys and 2,649 patent agencies by the end of November, according to the National Intellectual Property Administration (NIPA). Patent attorneys and agencies are important parts of the whole patent system, and provide the link between inventors and examiners, NIPA head Shen Changyu said at a conference of the All-China Patent Attorneys Association in Beijing. Shen stressed the need to keep improving the service level of patent attorneys and agencies to give strong support to the high-quality development of intellectual property.

Foreign-funded firms' profits up in Sichuan

Foreign-funded enterprises in Southwest China's Sichuan province saw their net profit reach 55.95 billion yuan ($8 billion) in 2018, up 13.4 percent year-on-year, according to a recent report. The revenue of the companies totaled 674.57 billion yuan, the report by the Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Economic Cooperation showed. The number of foreign-funded companies increased by 77 last year, reaching 3,426 in total, ranking top in the western region, it showed. The top industries with a high concentration of foreign-funded enterprises in the province are manufacturing; leasing and business services; wholesale and retail; real estate; information transmission; and software and information technology services.

S. Korea's overseas investment falls

South Korea's overseas direct investment fell in the third quarter amid the downturn of the semiconductor and display panel sectors, a government report showed on Friday. Direct investment made by local companies in overseas markets amounted to $12.78 billion in the July-September quarter, down 5.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. It marked the first decline in six quarters due to slump in the semiconductor and display panel industries and the global economic slowdown. The ministry said most of the large-scale investment for this year was made in the first half, noting that small-scale investments were made in the third quarter.