In Depth: China’s New Rules for Private Funds Are Just the Beginning

More regulations governing China’s 21 trillion yuan ($2.9 trillion) private fund industry may be in the pipeline to flesh out a new overarching legal framework that doesn’t address some controversial issues such as the role of custodians, industry sources told Caixin.

The private fund sector expanded rapidly over the past few years but with insufficient oversight. The new framework (私募投资基金监督管理条例), issued by the State Council earlier this month, has a higher legal standing than the measures issued by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) in 2014 which carry limited penalties. The new regulations bridge the gap between the CSRC measures and the Securities Investment Fund Law (证券投资基金法). They tighten up oversight and consolidate rules scattered across lower-level regulatory documents.