Credit Suisse: Won approval to offer securities brokerage services in late 2015 in Qianhai.
Goldman Sachs and UBS: They have the longest-established securities joint ventures in China, and got their licences before a moratorium imposed in 2006. They offer brokerage services across the country through their local partners.
JPMorgan: Pulled out of its previous securities joint venture in China in 2016, selling its stake in JPMorgan First Capital Securities after being a minority shareholder for six years.
The potential for expansion is huge. Foreign securities firms together had less than a 1 percent market share of China’s brokerage business at the end of 2016, and generated less than 2 percent of total securities revenue, according to a report from UBS published this month.
China’s plan for the financial sector came into sharper focus as the nation’s top central banker elaborated on pledges from President Xi Jinping. PBOC Governor Yi reiterated some key measures first announced in November, saying that foreign ownership caps on securities companies, fund managers and life insurers will be fully scrapped in three years. He added that banking regulation will need to be strengthened during the opening-up.
He also said that the daily Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect quota will quadruple to 52 billion yuan ($8.3 billion) from May 1.
The fresh details from the new central bank chief may help further ease trade tensions after Xi’s renewed pledges to open sectors from banking to auto manufacturing drew praise from U.S. President Donald Trump.
When asked by Bloomberg News whether the financial reforms represented a “big bang,” Yi characterized them as gradual.
“I think that the Chinese philosophy is gradualism,” Yi said. “I’ll be very cautious. I even don’t want to use the word ‘bang,’ no matter if it’s big or small. I think this is a prudent, cautious, gradualist move.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.