SALOMON Brothers has won approval to open a representative office in Beijing.
The company's chairman and chief executive officer Deryck Maughan attended a reception to mark the occasion in the Great Hall of the People last night.
In a company statement, he said he was ''optimistic about the short-term and long-term prospects of the PRC's economy as the structural and institutional reforms are in place and the pace of economic reform is continuing to support progress toward a more open market''.
The company was still considering whether to open an office in Shanghai, a spokesman said.
Salomon will have three bankers based in Beijing in order to make contacts within the government, according to a spokesman in Hong Kong.
The spokesman said the firm had already been involved in major China deals including February's US$1 billion global bond, Luoyang Glass and Ma'anshan Iron and Steel.
The global bond launched into rising interest rates and the yield has risen as high as 8.89 per cent and is currently above 8.5 per cent.