Standard Chartered PLC's (LSE:STAN) proposal to open a securities firm in mainland China had been approved by the country’s financial regulator on Friday.
The FTSE 100-listed bank said it would inject 1.05bn yuan (US$155.7mln) into the new investment business, Standard Chartered Securities (China) Ltd.
Approval from China's Securities and Regulatory Commission was 'in-principle', but would be the first time China has allowed a wholly foreign-owned securities firm to set up within its borders since 2020, when it eased ownership restrictions.
StanChart already has a long-established commercial bank in China as well as a Hong Kong-based securities firm, with the new business set to cover asset management, underwriting, brokerage and own-account trading.
The lender's Asia chief executive Benjamin Hung said the move marked a “major milestone” for its China franchise and highlighted the group's confidence in “the promising investment value of the onshore capital markets and the growing attractiveness of Renminbi (Yuan) assets in offshore markets”.
StanChart earmarked a US$300mln investment for a China-related business last February, suggesting it would take advantage of China’s growth prospects as it continues to reopen post-Covid.