| China may lift moratorium on foreign investments in brokerages in 2007 |
BEIJING, Oct. 19 (AP) -- Chinese financial regulators might lift a moratorium on new foreign investment in securities brokerages in the second half of 2007, an official newspaper said Thursday.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission said last month it was not considering any new applications for joint ventures between foreign and local brokerages while it completed an industry restructuring.
The overhaul is due to be completed by the second half of 2007, and the moratorium might be removed then, the China Securities Journal said, citing an unnamed source.
Foreign investors are allowed to own up to 49 percent of a Chinese securities house under Beijing's market-opening commitments to the World Trade Organization.
China has been trying to modernize its securities industry, which is dominated by scores of small, financially weak firms, by drawing in foreign investment and skills.
But with the moratorium on new licenses, regulators suspended the modernization efforts while they tried to revitalize Chinese firms by injecting new capital into some, encouraging others to merge with stronger rivals and shutting some down.
After an extended stock market slump, regulators stopped accepting applications for foreign investment in Chinese-foreign joint ventures in the financial industry in late 2005.
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