Foreign-funded companies have been setting up new firms and increasing their investment in China as the country is firmly promoting high-standard opening up.

After Standard Chartered, Schroders and AllianceBernstein were granted approval to set up firms on the Chinese mainland this year, China now boasts nine foreign-controlled securities firms and wholly foreign-owned fund companies.

"This year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission has repeatedly emphasized the high-level opening up of the capital market and actively encouraged foreign investors to increase their investment in China's capital market and establish institutions in the country," said Tian Lihui, director of the Institute of Finance and Development of Nankai University.

Morgan Stanley Funds China, wholly owned by Morgan Stanley, increased its registered capital from 250 million yuan (about 34 million U.S. dollars) to 600 million yuan this year.

"As we have seen, the China Securities Regulatory Commission in May this year approved the establishment of Morgan Stanley's futures company in China, which clearly indicated that Chinese assets have become an essential part for foreign financial institutions," said Ronald Wan, a member of the Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute.

After A shares -- shares that trade on the Chinese mainland -- were added to major indexes such as MSCI, FTSE Russell and Bloomberg, their weight has increased year by year, beefing up the influence of Chinese listed companies.

"China has significantly accelerated its market opening to global investors. The progress made recently in including China's domestic stock and bond indexes into major global indexes has also been very encouraging," said Zhu Haibin, chief china economist at JP Morgan.