Vanguard is close to launching its first business aimed at China’s population: a robo-adviser that will help the Asian country’s investors pick mutual funds, write Stella Yifan Xie and Dawn Lim for The Wall Street Journal.

The Malvern-based investment giant has long awaited entering China’s rapidly-growing mutual-fund industry. However, the country’s regulators still do not allow foreign firms to manage money for mom-and-pop investors.

Instead, one of the world’s largest asset managers has teamed up with Ant Financial Services Group, the most valuable technology startup in China. Together, they will provide investment advice to the hundreds of millions of users of its popular mobile app Alipay.

The service is expected to go live over the following weeks. Individuals with more than 800 yuan, or $114, can use the funds to put together an investment portfolio from the 5,700 domestic mutual funds for sale by Ant.

The Chinese company owns 51 percent of the joint venture, with Vanguard owning 49 percent. However, the service will carry Vanguard’s brand and rely primarily on its algorithms to offer investment advice.

Read more about Vanguard in The Wall Street Journal here.

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