Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) has been granted approval by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to set up a securities firm, Standard Chartered Securities (China), representing the first time the CSRC has done so for a firm wholly owned by a foreign shareholder via greenfield investment in its onshore market since the lifting of ownership restrictions for foreign financial institutions in 2020.

With an initial capital injection of 1.05 billion yuan (US$155.93 million), the new firm, which will be headquartered in Beijing, will cover underwriting, asset management (restricted to asset-backed securities only) and own-account trading and brokerage activities, and play an important role in the bank’s business strategy in China. The firm will provide products and services related to China’s onshore capital markets for both onshore and offshore clients.

The bank will appoint John Tan, its current head of financial markets for Asia, as chairman-designate of the securities firm and Grace Geng as its CEO-designate.

“This is a major milestone for our China franchise,” says Benjamin Hung, the bank’s CEO for Asia. “We are confident of the continued opening of financial markets in China and are very positive about the country’s development prospects, in particular the promising investment value of the onshore capital markets and the growing attractiveness of renminbi assets in offshore markets.”