1st wholly foreign-owned money brokerage firm in mainland opens

China has given the green light to Tokyo-based Ueda Yagi Tanshi to establish the first wholly foreign-owned money brokerage in the mainland amid China's efforts to further open up its financial sector to foreign investors.

Tentatively known as Ueda Yagi Money Brokerage China, the new company will be situated in the Tongzhou district of Beijing. Its business scope includes transactions in the foreign exchange market both domestically and overseas, money market transactions, bond market transactions and derivatives brokerage.

Granting approval for the establishment of Ueda Yagi Money Brokerage China is an important move by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and the commission's Beijing Office to carry out the State Council's decision to accelerate opening-up China's financial sector, said Wu Jingchun, an inspector with the commission's Beijing Office, at a news conference on Wednesday.

"It is also one of the great achievements of CBIRC and CBIRC's Beijing Office in giving full support to Beijing to build a national comprehensive demonstration zone for expanding opening-up in the service sector," Wu said.

Last year, China introduced 11 measures to further open its financial sector, including supporting foreign investors in setting up wholly foreign-owned money brokerages and cooperating with local businesses to establish joint ventures.

The volume and value of transactions of bonds, notes, foreign exchange and derivatives kept increasing in China in recent years. As non-bank financial institutions specializing in financial intermediation and foreign exchange transactions among financial institutions, money brokerages can effectively help small and medium-sized financial institutions to widen access to information and strengthen bargaining power, which will be helpful to maintain openness and transparency in financial markets and improve the efficiency of financial asset allocation, Wu said.