Citigroup Wins Approval for Wholly Owned China Securities Firm

Approval for a standalone China securities business

Citigroup has received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to establish a wholly foreign-owned securities firm in mainland China. The company said the license will allow it to provide onshore capital-markets services to domestic and international clients, including underwriting, equities brokerage, investment advisory, research and trading in listed securities.

The approval ends a nearly five-year process during which the bank navigated regulatory scrutiny in Washington and Beijing. The decision also gives Citi a standalone onshore securities presence after it dissolved its investment-banking joint venture with Orient Securities in 2019.

Shanghai firm plans a broad service range

Citigroup Securities (China) will be headquartered in Shanghai. Chinese regulators set the firm's registered capital at 1.2 billion yuan, or about US$180 million.

Citi said it plans to build an onshore team of more than 100 staff, initially concentrating on underwriting renminbi-denominated equities and futures trading. The bank has already recruited several senior executives for the business, including a chief executive officer, chief financial officer and chief compliance officer.

Rebuilding after earlier retrenchment

The license comes as Citi rebuilds its mainland presence after more recently exiting consumer banking in China as part of a global pullback. During the past two years, the bank has focused on its commercial-banking operations, including trade finance, transaction services and hedging.

Citi also retains other mainland licenses covering activities such as bond clearing and settlement, futures-margin depository banking, corporate-bond underwriting and domestic fund custody.

A late entry into onshore markets

Citigroup will enter the domestic securities market after Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley established China securities units. Reported industry conditions include slower economic growth, subdued capital-markets activity and intense competition, with some late entrants struggling to break even. The reporting said stronger performance at earlier entrants in 2025 benefited from a recovery in stocks and deal activity, while much of global banks' China-related earnings still comes from Hong Kong listings and offshore businesses.

Next operating milestone

The next verifiable milestone is the launch and scaling of Citigroup Securities (China) in mainland China, including its onshore staffing and initial focus on renminbi-denominated equity underwriting and futures trading.