File photo: VCG

BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The scale of China's public offering funds reached 16.36 trillion yuan (about 2.3 trillion U.S. dollars) by the end of February this year, according to data from the Asset Management Association of China.  
This marked an increase of 5.6 percent from the scale seen at the end of January despite the novel coronavirus outbreak.
According to the association, the public offering funds were operated by 143 fund management companies, of which 84 were domestic firms while the rest were joint ventures.
China's asset management business expanded slower in recent years as authorities tightened regulations to contain risks arising from wealth management products.
In 2017, draft guidelines unified rules covering asset management products issued by all types of financial institutions, requiring them to set leverage ceilings.