Singapore city center cityscape featuring the Standard Chartered Bank office building
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Standard Chartered Bank Chief Executive Bill Winters met with the head of China’s foreign exchange regulator on Monday, a month after the bank suspended new investments in offshore products from Chinese clients through quota channels.
Winters exchanged views with Zhu Hexin, head of China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange, on China’s financial opening and the establishment of a treasury center, according to a statement issued by the regulator late Monday.
Last month, the London-based bank said in a client note that it would not conduct checks on offshore-registered funds sold through China’s Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) program, which is governed by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. New subscription.
Standard Chartered said the suspension was for “commercial reasons”.
However, analysts said the suspension may be because Standard Chartered’s QDII quota capacity may have been reached due to surge in demand from Chinese investors for overseas investments through the QDII program.
It’s unclear whether Winters and Zhu discussed the issue of quotas.
Separately, Standard Chartered Bank said in a statement that its wholly-owned investment banking subsidiary Standard Chartered Securities China started operations last Friday, becoming the latest global financial company to take advantage of the opening up of China’s securities brokerage industry.
“We are confident in China’s continued opening up of its financial industry and its economic transformation,” Winters said.
“The establishment of SCSCL will enhance Standard Chartered Bank’s ability to provide services to domestic and foreign customers and deepen and diversify our business capabilities in China.”
Standard Chartered’s chairman said last year that it would start recruiting staff in China from 2023 to prepare to launch an investment banking unit targeting niche bond trading.
China pledged on Monday to treat foreign companies the same as its domestic peers in a bid to attract more foreign investment, cooperation and expertise amid sluggish economic growth and rising geopolitical tensions.
Executives from major global companies, including financial industry executives such as Standard Chartered Bank’s Winters and HSBC President Noel Quinn, attended this year’s China Development Forum, which opened on Saturday.
Blackstone’s Schwarzman met with Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Cai Qi on Monday, according to a statement from China’s Foreign Ministry.
Tsai said that implementing the agreement reached at the 2023 Los Angeles meeting between Chinese and American leaders is a “top priority” and requires the support of all parties.
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