Foreign asset managers are putting on a brave face as Chinese regulators throw them crumbs in the form of incremental market opening, even as a clampdown on capital outflow dims their prospects. 

The chief executive of Australian fund manager AMP Capital, Adam Tindall, says his company’s two China joint ventures have achieved profitability ahead of schedule and are contributing significantly to the group. 

China Life Pensions, AMP’s pension JV with insurer China Life, was one of 21 asset managers — including seven Sino-foreign JVs — that China’s state pension trustee approved last month to manage a slice of Rmb400bn (US$58bn) in provincial pension funds that will be farmed out to external managers. Mr Tindall is also upbeat about the growth prospects for China Life AMP Asset Management (Clamp).