China said yesterday it has suspended approvals for new domestic and foreign-invested security brokerages, a blow to overseas firms looking to get in on the booming Chinese markets.
The securities regulator said it would also suspend expansion of domestic brokerages and would not issue new licenses, according to a statement carried in the official Shanghai Securities Journal.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission, or CSRC, said exceptions would be made only for deals judged to be capable of reducing risk.
The move appeared to reverse for now plans by Beijing to draw on foreign investor capital and management expertise to help clean house in a sector plagued for years by corruption, poor management and heavy losses.
Speaking at a forum in Beijing, the head of the CSRC Shang Fulin (
"By the end of October next year, everything can be completed and then we can run the pilot project for joint venture securities institutions," Shang said.
The announcement would seem to scuttle foreign securities dealers' ambitions to buy into domestic brokerages -- plans that had already been thwarted by regulatory resistance.
Swiss investment bank UBS has secured preliminary approval from the CSRC for its 1.7 billion yuan (US$214 million) purchase of a 20 percent stake in Beijing Securities but it has not yet gained final clearance.
CLSA, the Asian investment banking arm of French bank Credit Agricole, was seeking to set up brokering operations in China by buying into an existing domestic player but never won final approval.
Regulators argued yesterday that the temporary suspension was aimed at strengthening domestic brokerages as part of program that seeks to better control the financially unruly sector.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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