Citi wins licence to set up fully-owned China securities unit

BEIJING/HONGKONG, Oct 23 (Reuters) - China's securities regulator said on Friday it has approved a plan by Citi C.N to establish a fully owned securities unit in China, allowing the Wall Street bank to expand its presence in the world's second-largest economy.

Headquartered in Shanghai, Citigroup Securities China Company is permitted to offer onshore capital markets services to domestic and foreign clients, including underwriting, equities brokerage, trading onshore securities, securities research and investment advisory.

The US bank, which offers corporate, institutional and other banking services in China, applied for a wholly owned mainland Chinese brokerage unit licence in late 2021 as part of its ​push to ramp up its China onshore operations.

Citi has been hiring for the business over the last couple of years and aims to roughly double the headcount to around 100 people by the end of this year, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters in September.

"By adding onshore capabilities to our global platform, we will be able to do more for clients in China's domestic capital markets, including helping them raise capital, access investors and trade locally, while connecting them to opportunities around the world," group CEO Jane Fraser said in a statement.