Alibaba Group Holdings has secured approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to act as a third party for the online sale of fund products, local media group Caixin reported on its website.
The fund products will soon be available on Alibaba's Amazon-like Taobao website, according to the report.
No-one at Alibaba was available to comment.
The approval marks a further step for Alibaba towards providing an alternative to China's tightly regulated traditional financial system.
Alibaba affiliate Alipay, whose parent company Zhejiang Alibaba E-Commerce Co is controlled by billionaire Alibaba founder Jack Ma, said in August that it had partnered with 37 funds to offer wealth management products to its customers.
AliPay's fund payment platform Yu E Bao, or "leftover treasure", launched its Zenglibao fund, managed by the fledgling Tianhong Asset Management Co, in June.
The Zenglibao fund, a money market product, is the most successful fundraising by any mutual fund in China this year, attracting 55.7 billion yuan ($9.14 billion) in assets under management from 13 million customers as of September 30.
Source: Reuters
