China opens up financial sector to more foreign investment

Bloomberg

China opened up its financial sector to more foreign investment as the government said it will take targeted measures to cope with rising risks and challenges facing the industry.
Foreign investors can take a stake or control entities including wealth management units of commercial lenders, pension fund managers and currency brokers, the central bank said in a statement on Saturday. The measures were unveiled after a high-level meeting chaired by Vice Premier Liu He, where policy makers discussed targeted steps to counter rising risks and challenges facing the $44 trillion industry.
China, often criticised by US President Donald Trump as a one-sided beneficiary of global commerce, is pressing on with its pledge to welcome more overseas competition in the financial sector. The sheer size of the industry makes it attractive as winning even single-digit market shares would offer sizable profits, but global firms need to navigate an often opaque regulatory environment and take on state-controlled rivals that drive much of China’s economic activity.
Foreigners currently hold just 1.6 percent of the nation’s banking assets and 5.8 percent of the insurance market, according to Guo Shuqing, China’s chief banking regulator. Authorities have so far approved plans by UBS Group AG, Nomura Holdings Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to take majority stakes in local securities ventures. JPMorgan said last year it plans to raise its holding to 100 percent when rules allow.
China released figures showing growth in the world’s second-largest economy slowed to 6.2 percent in the second quarter, the weakest pace since at least 1992 when the country began collecting the data.