The firm joins a string of international banks that have registered with Chinese authorities to set up onshore brokerages after the financial market supervisor loosened the rules on foreign access to financial markets. 

DBS Bank has received approval to establish a securities brokerage joint venture in China, which will provide brokerage, securities investment consulting, securities underwriting and sponsorship, as well as proprietary trading, the bank announced on Wednesday in a statement.

The bank had been in discussions to set up a securities firm in China together with a local partner as far back as 2018, finews.asia previously reported.

DBS Securities (China) will be 51 percent owned by DBS Bank, 24.67 percent by Donghao Lansheng Investment Management, 13.33 percent by Shanghai Huangpu Investment Holdings, 6.5 percent by Shanghai Huiyang Asset Management, and 4.5 percent by Shanghai Huangpu Guidance Fund Equity Investment.

Key Milestone

DBS chief executive Piyush Gupta called it a «key milestone» for the bank, and said it would «make available the best of DBS’ capabilities and offerings, and provide customers in China with a full range of onshore and offshore financial services.»

«The establishment of DBS Securities will further support the long-term sustainable development of DBS Group in China and meet the changing needs of customers in multiple aspects,» Neil Ge, China head of DBS Group said.