Update | China to ease ownership limits on foreign joint ventures in finance sector

Limits on foreign ownership of joint ventures in China’s financial services sector will be relaxed over the next five years, China’s deputy finance minister Zhu Guangyao said on Friday.

Foreign firms will be allowed to hold a majority stake in joint ventures with mainland Chinese securities companies and life insurance joint ventures, and caps on foreign banks’ stakes in Chinese banks and asset managers would be removed, Zhu was quoted saying in a press release issued by China’s State Council on Friday.

Zhu said the decision was made during meetings between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump during the latter’s state visit to China this week.

The reforms will see the largest liberalisation in China’s financial services industry since 2007 when foreign banks were allowed to set up locally incorporated operations in China.