China mulls allowing foreign groups to establish finance firms

This Nov 3, 2020 photo shows a view of the Lujiazui area of Pudong, east China's Shanghai. (DING TING / XINHUA)

BEIJING – China is mulling allowing foreign multinational groups to establish finance companies in the country in its latest opening-up move.

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Foreign multinational groups will be able to establish finance companies directly or through foreign-funded investment companies established in China, according to a draft document released by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

A draft document, now open to the public for opinions, has made provision updates in fields like market access requirements and business regulation

In the draft, the same market access conditions are applied to foreign-funded finance companies and Chinese counterparts.

The document, which is now open to the public for opinions, has made provision updates in fields like market access requirements and business regulation.

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The financial threshold for setting up a finance company has been raised in line with China's economic status, with higher asset, revenue, profit and paid-in capital requirements for candidate corporate groups, according to the draft document.