Just a few years ago, lucrative business prospects in China on the back of a booming economy led to a scramble among Western financial firms, from investment banking to asset management, to expand their footprints and source talent from across the world. But as doubts grow about China's economic recovery and its markets lag global peers, many of the financial firms are taking a hit on their earnings and are reining in their ambitions for what was a key piece of their global growth strategy. From the beginning of this year, a growing list of Western financial firms, including Fidelity International Ltd (FIL), Morgan Stanley, and Legal & General have either sharply cut China-focused jobs or have shelved expansion plans.