Citi wins Beijing’s go-ahead for a fully owned China securities firm

What happened

On Friday the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) gave Citi permission to set up Citigroup Securities (China) Company Limited, a Shanghai-based firm that the US bank will own outright. Citi said the license covers equities brokerage, underwriting of securities, research and principal trading, meaning trading with its own money, for both Chinese and foreign clients. The bank still has to finish statutory steps before the firm can open. Citi first applied in late 2021, according to Reuters. The Financial Times (FT) reported that the approval was long-awaited and comes before a meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping that is expected next month.

What it means

Until now, Citi's investment banking work for Chinese companies has focused on raising money abroad. A local license changes that. With its own onshore firm, Citi can help companies sell shares and bonds inside China, give clients direct access to the country's stock exchanges and trade locally listed shares, bonds and funds. The bank says it has already helped Chinese clients raise more than $40 billion in global capital markets so far this year, and the new unit is meant to add a domestic leg to that business.

Citi is arriving later than some of its Wall Street peers. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley already hold licenses for wholly owned China securities firms, and Reuters reported in September that their units had a strong 2025. Profit at Goldman's China arm nearly tripled to 1.46 billion yuan last year, while JPMorgan's almost quadrupled to 984 million yuan, according to their China annual reports, helped by a surge in trading revenue from institutional clients.

The bank has been preparing for some time. Reuters reported in September that Citi aimed to roughly double the unit's staff to about 100 by the end of this year, moving bankers from Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia and hiring externally. It plans to draw on the corporate clients it already serves in China for foreign exchange, cash management and trade finance. Citi says it works with 70% of the Fortune 500 companies operating in the country.

Timing matters too. Despite years of tension between Washington and Beijing, China has been widening access for Wall Street firms as it seeks more foreign capital, Reuters noted. The FT tied this approval to the diplomatic calendar, reporting that it comes ahead of an expected Trump-Xi meeting. That suggests financial-sector access remains one of the areas where the two sides can show progress.

The bull case

Citi gains a direct route into the onshore Chinese capital markets, where it can now underwrite share and bond sales for local companies. Its existing corporate banking ties in China give it a ready pool of potential clients, and rivals' rapidly rising onshore profits show the business can be lucrative. Underwriting deals locally could also deepen relationships with Chinese firms that later raise money abroad.

The bear case

Citi is late to a crowded field, competing against both entrenched Wall Street rivals and dominant Chinese brokerages. Some foreign firms, including Fidelity International and Schroders, have recently pulled back from parts of their China businesses amid fierce competition, Reuters reported. A team of around 100 people is small relative to Citi overall, and US-China tensions could still disrupt foreign banks' plans.