From Bloomberg News:
UBS AG, Europe’s biggest bank, cleared a key hurdle in its bid to establish the first Chinese brokerage managed by an overseas securities firm, a China Securities Regulatory Commission document shows.
Beijing Guoxiang Asset Management Co. and Jianyin Investment Co., the Swiss bank’s partners in the venture, today received approval from the commission to set up a brokerage called UBS Securities Co., according to the document, which was obtained by Bloomberg News.
The decision, which took nine months, may give Zurich-based UBS a head start over global competitors including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. to tap a Chinese stock market that rose 27 percent in value so far this year to $402 billion. The commission last month ended a yearlong ban on initial public offerings introduced to stem a market slump that stretched from June 2001 to May 2005.[Full Text]
