JPMorgan aims for China approval of active ETF launch this year
The firm has operated in the Asian nation since 1921
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[TORONTO] JPMorgan Chase is working towards getting approval from Chinese securities regulators to launch actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the country for the first time.
“Our expectation is that this year we will get permission to be able to do that,” said George Gatch, global CEO of JPMorgan’s asset management unit.
JPMorgan Asset Management eclipsed Dimensional Fund Advisors to become the world’s largest active ETF provider early this year with around US$257 billion in assets under management. Active ETFs are a key growth area for the US firm globally, and it started its first active ETFs in Taiwan last year.
According to a February note from Bloomberg Intelligence, in mainland China, providers can offer “enhanced index” ETFs with up to 20 per cent deviation from the index but not full active management as yet.
“It’s quite an interesting market, quite different than most others,” Gatch said. The China Securities Regulatory Commission tends to give permission to a number of managers to launch products at the same time, he said.
JPMorgan has operated in China since 1921, and stated in October 2025 that it wants to double its Asia-Pacific assets under management to US$600 billion in five years. The company runs a wholly owned mutual fund business in China that has more than 69 million retail and institutional clients at the end of 2024.
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“It will be a volatile world and relationship between China and the United States, but over the long term Chinese assets and Chinese investors are going to be an important component of our business,” Gatch said.
Non-US markets are growing in importance for the firm, he added.
For example, JPMorgan Asset Management leads in market share for active ETFs in continental Europe at almost 25 per cent, he said. In Canada, it has grown to almost 40 staff from just five people three and a half years ago, serving both institutions and financial advisers.
“My expectation is that non-US investments are likely to be much more important going forward than have been in the past,” Gatch said. “The US dollar has been on a secular trend of strength over the last 10 years, and uncertainty around US policy is going to have an impact on the US dollar.”
While he said that the greenback will continue to be the reserve currency, its potential weakening in the future will benefit emerging markets in particular, “which are a big part of our investment franchise”.
Globally, JPMorgan’s asset and wealth management business had US$4.8 trillion of client assets under management at the end of December. BLOOMBERG
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