Citi Opens China Conference as Wall Street Chases a $27 Trillion Prize

Fraser is headlining Citi's China conference in person this week in Shanghai and Shenzhen, running Nov. 10-13. The bank just won approval to set up a wholly-owned securities company on the mainland. Citi is the latest U.S. financial firm to cash in on China's September pledge, made at the Trump-Xi summit, to clear applications from all foreign financial institutions. Also on the guest list: Anna Wintour, Vogue's former editor-in-chief. Condé Nast did not respond to a request for comment.

The draw isn't only tech stocks. Mainland Chinese with more than $125,000 in bankable assets hold a combined $27 trillion in wealth, per financial analytics firm Crisil Coalition Greenwich, and the millionaire population has jumped to nearly 4 million from 1 million a decade ago. Nuno Cordeiro and Fabio Zheng of Crisil Coalition Greenwich said in an email that the property slowdown has stoked demand for diversification and advice, adding that winning firms pair a bigger local footprint with partnerships that unlock domestic distribution.

Money is moving both directions. Franklin Templeton, which runs $1.8 trillion, and ChinaAMC, with over 3.1 trillion yuan ($462.5 billion) under management, signed a strategic partnership on Oct. 28 to swap market insights and build products together — starting with co-branded ETFs across Hong Kong, U.S. and European fund structures. A Hong Kong-listed ETF the two launched Sept. 29 holds roughly 40% U.S. stocks and 60% Hong Kong names. ChinaAMC's Sherrie Dai said such products could meet Beijing's threshold for mainland investors within six to 12 months, and the firm is also building vehicles for Brazilians to buy into Chinese tech.

Performance is the sore spot. Chinese stocks have tumbled this year and badly lagged U.S. peers. BlackRock decided in late 2025 to shut its three-year-old China Innovation Fund, which held just $31.7 million in net assets, and Vanguard sold its stake in a mainland mutual fund operator to majority owner Ant Group back in 2023. Peter Alexander of Shanghai's Z-Ben Advisors blamed part of the trouble on what he called micromanagement from headquarters outside China, saying global groups have failed because they couldn't adapt how they operate to the local market. Capital controls and a state-dominated system make the mainland a different beast, with state-linked funds known as the National Team stepping in to blunt sell-offs.

Last week, with reports swirling of a pause in new Chinese IPOs, a senior financial regulator warned that piling too much capital into tech stokes leverage and crowds out traditional industries. WisdomTree quantitative manager Liqian Ren said fast price spikes risk leaving longer-term investors, who can't buy in immediately, holding the top — and high volatility turns the market into a trading vehicle, which she said isn't necessarily good for China. Next up: trade data on Nov. 10, Singles Day wrapping Nov. 13, and retail sales, industrial production and fixed-asset investment on Nov. 16.