Credit Suisse gets approval to take majority stake in China JV

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Credit Suisse (OTC: CSGN) has received regulatory approval to take a majority stake in its Chinese investment banking joint venture, the bank said in a statement on Friday.

It is the latest international investment bank to receive approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commision (CSRC), after the rules limiting foreign banks to 49% ownership of their China operations were eased in 2018.

Bankers say that majority control allows them to make better use of their global network to win market share in China.

The Swiss bank will increase its stake in Credit Suisse Founder Securities from 33.3% to 51% via a capital injection.

Credit Suisse Founder Securities provides investment banking services including sponsoring and underwriting of shares and bonds and financial advisory services.

"We believe the securities entity will enable us to develop our onshore capabilities. We intend to continue to invest in this important market," Helman Sitohang, Asia Pacific CEO of Credit Suisse, said in the statement.

Swiss lender UBS became the first foreign bank to hold a majority stake in a China securities business under the new rules in 2018. It has since been followed by Nomura Holdings <8604.T> JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS)..

The CSRC said that it had approved the application in a notice on its website.

(Reporting by Alun John in Hong Kong and Cheng Leng in Beijing; editing by David Evans)

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