China mulls over opening up its securities market further

Hong Kong

AS China considers whether to grant foreign investment banks greater access to its securities market, their biggest local competitor is undaunted.

"It's quite obvious who are the winners," Zhang Jian, who oversees Citic Securities Co's mergers advisory business, said in an April interview. "I'm not concerned at all."

Mr Zhang's confidence might help explain why, after years of imposing restrictions on foreign securities firms, China may be getting ready to ease up. Two decades after Morgan Stanley became the first foreign firm to form a joint venture on the mainland, about 98 per cent of revenues in China flow to local investment banks, industry data show.

China's securities regulator figures that greater participation by foreign investment banks might help mitigate the boom-bust cycles of its stock markets by bringing in more institutional money, according to peo…