Wholly owned domestic fund management companies are fast threatening those joint venture fund management firms in China that have significant investments by foreign asset management companies, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) survey showed.

As per rules framed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, foreign asset management firms can hold no more than a 49 percent stake in domestic fund management companies. These joint ventures are commonly known as foreign joint venture fund management firms.

The survey, which interviewed 29 such foreign joint venture fund management firms in China, revealed that they viewed fully owned domestic fund firms as their greatest competitive threat, elevating "domestic competition" from the 16th position in 2007 to second place this year in terms of threat perception.