China's securities regulator said it will look into the legitimacy of Baidu's asset management product after the search engine operator said it will start selling high-yield investment products.

Sales of mutual funds through the Internet should abide by the country’s Securities Investment Fund Law and other regulations. It is a taboo for fund companies and online sales institutions to promise the rate of return on a mutual fund or an asset management product, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said on its website today.

Baidu promised an 8 percent annualized investment return for an asset management product that will be launched at the end of this month in collaboration with China Asset Management Co Ltd.

It was the latest move by a Chinese Internet giant to expand into the financial sector after Alipay began to sell money market funds through its online payment platform early this year in partnership with Tian Hong Asset Management Co.

Baidu later withdrew its ad for an 8 percent return and deleted related postings from social networking sites.

The CSRC said it will examine the legitimacy and compliance issue based on documents provided by Baidu.

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