China to open up finance sector to more foreign investment in 2020, one year earlier than planned

Shareholding limits on foreign ownership of securities, insurance and fund management firms will be removed in 2020

Foreign investors will also be encouraged to set up wealth management firms, currency brokerages and pension management companies

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A pedestrian walking past the People's Bank of China headquarters in Beijing, China recently. A committee of the central bank said on Saturday that China would remove shareholding limits on foreign ownership of securities, insurance and fund management firms in 2020, one year earlier than originally planned. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 2:32am, 21 Jul 2019Updated: 2:53am, 21 Jul 2019

China lifted some restrictions on foreign investment in the financial sector on Saturday, as the world’s second largest economy fights slowing growth at home and a damaging trade war with the US.

China will remove shareholding limits on foreign ownership of securities, insurance and fund management firms in 2020, one year earlier than originally planned, the Financial Stability and Development Committee said in a statement posted by the central bank on Saturday.

Foreign investors will also be encouraged to set up wealth management firms, currency brokerages and pension management companies, the statement said.

Additional measures include scrapping entry barriers for foreign insurance companies, such as a requirement of 30 years of business operations, and cancelling a 25 per cent equity cap on foreign ownership of insurance asset management firms.

US President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, last month. Photo: Reuters

Foreign-owned credit rating agencies will also be allowed to evaluate a greater number of bond and debt types, the statement said.