Major US Investment Services Provider Lays Off Staff in China, Shifting Operations to Other Countries

Facing the increasingly complex Chinese business environment, more foreign companies are withdrawing or partially withdrawing from China. Morningstar, a leading global investment services provider, also began to partially exit and shift the bulk of its business from China to other foreign locations. The Epoch Times cartography

Morningstar, a leading global investment services provider, has significantly reduced its operations in China while shifting the bulk of its business activities to foreign locations. The Chicago-based firm has been in the Chinese market for nearly 20 years.

The firm’s third-quarter financial report, released on Oct. 26, stated that it had “[begun] to incur costs from a significant reduction to its operations in Shenzhen, China, and shifting work related to its global business functions to other Morningstar locations. [And that] the remaining China operations will focus solely on domestic market activities.”

The process of partially exiting China has cost the firm more than $30 million, according to the report.

Morningstar has been providing investors with professional investment data since 1984. The American firm conducts an array of investment research and management services, including the rating of funds.

As an authority in the financial services industry, it has approximately $239 billion in assets under advisement and management (through its subsidiaries), as of Sept. 30.

“In July 2022, the company began to significantly reduce its operations in Shenzhen, China, and to shift the work related to its global business functions, including global product and software development, managed investment data collection and analysis, and equity data collection and analysis, to other Morningstar locations,” the firm’s financial report stated.

“These activities will result in a significant headcount reduction in Shenzhen, China, and growth in other Morningstar locations, including Mumbai, Toronto, Madrid, and Chicago. Going forward, the company’s work in China will be focused solely on commercial activities in the domestic market.”

China’s Intrusiveness Discourages Private Enterprise

The company currently operates in 29 countries. In 2003, it established an office in Shenzhen, which represented the group’s largest technology development and data center outside of the United States.

According to a Bloomberg report in July, Morningstar had laid off several hundred among its 1,000 employees at the Shenzhen office. Meanwhile, according to its third-quarter financial report, the severance-related costs this year have amounted to about $26.3 million.

The company said it would hire replacement roles in other markets and expects to continue to employ certain Shenzhen-based staff through the transition period. The process is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2023.

In regards to scaling back business in China, Morningstar CEO Kunal Kapoor said in a memo dated July 11 that “[the] decision was necessary in the increasingly complex business environment,” Bloomberg reported.

In early July, before Morningstar started laying off its employees, China’s cyber watchdog issued new rules on Internet users and outbound data transfers that became effective in August and September, respectively.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the country’s central Internet regulator, successively introduced “Provisions on the Management of Internet Users’ Account Information,” effective on Aug. 1, and “Measures for the Security Assessment of Outbound Data Transfer,” effective on Sept. 1.

The new regulations refine the regime’s firm grip on personal data and livelihood and the operations of private enterprises.

Beijing’s latest regulations acquire full disclosure and certification of personal information for Internet users during registration, and clearance of data export via governmental agencies, reportedly for the sake of national interest and security.

Li Songyun, a doctorate in economics and expert on the Chinese economy, told The Epoch Times that Beijing’s exceedingly intrusive data supervision could be the main reason for Morningstar’s mass layoffs.

“To declare these data to the Cyberspace Administration is tantamount to leaking the data to the Chinese Communist Party. Judging from the current situation, this type of regulation may become more stringent in the future,” Li said.

“What Kapoor said about the increasingly complex business environment should refer to this.”