HARBIN -- Global rating agency Fitch Solutions announced Wednesday that it has been approved to distribute the agency's credit ratings, data and research services in the Chinese mainland.

"We are pleased to be certified as one of 80 official foreign institutions providing financial information in China," said Oliver Putz, head of Fitch Solutions Asia Pacific.

He said China is a leader in the $25 billion a year market of financial information services.

The State Council, China's Cabinet, relaxed the regulation on foreign institutions' distribution of financial information services in October 2012.

Putz said China-based investors and market participants are increasingly hungry for real-time financial information, offering a ready market for Fitch Solutions' products such as credit research and ratings and quantitative risk and performance tools.

Fitch Solutions is a division of the Fitch Group. The division is also the distribution channel for Fitch Ratings content.