Standard Chartered says wins nod from China for securities firm

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Standard Chartered on Friday said it had been granted approval by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to set up a mainland securities firm.

The bank said the firm would have an initial capital injection of 1.05 billion yuan ($155.69 million) and would cover underwriting, asset management that was restricted to asset-backed securities only, own-account trading and brokerage activities.

In a statement, StanChart said the deal was the first time the CSRC had granted in-principle approval for the establishment of a securities firm wholly owned by a foreign shareholder through a greenfield investment in its onshore market since ownership restrictions were eased in 2020.

John Tan has been appointed chairman-designate of the firm and Grace Geng CEO-designate, according to the statement.

($1 = 6.7440 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Scott Murdoch; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)