Banks Rush Into Chinese Black Box
Majority control of local securities ventures won’t be a bonanza.
To assume China’s black box will produce a bonanze for global banks would be naive.
Photographer: Filippo Carlot/iStockphoto/Getty Images
Global banks are rushing to plant their flags in China. That doesn’t guarantee they’ll be winners.
Last week, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lodged an application to take a majority stake in a securities company, having exited a venture where it was a junior partner. The Wall Street firm follows UBS Group AG and Nomura Holdings Inc., which were the first to seek permission to take 51 percent stakes in local ventures under loosened rules announced last month. Both acted after China’s securities regulator encouraged them to apply quickly, Bloomberg News reported. Mizuho Financial Group Inc. is also considering direct investment in a Chinese brokerage, according to the Nikkei.