(Yicai) Nov. 24 -- Japan’s Mizuho Securities has become the latest foreign brokerage to apply for a license to establish a securities company in China, according to the country's securities regulator.

If successful, Mizuho Securities, which already has offices in Beijing and Shanghai, would be the third Japanese brokerage in China, joining Nomura Orient International Securities and Daiwa Securities China.

China started to lift the shareholding cap for foreign firms in securities companies in April 2020, allowing overseas brokerages to gain greater access to the country’s capital market.

UK lender Standard Chartered was the first international financial institution to open a wholly foreign-owned securities firm in China in January. And Citigroup, BNP Paribas, Intesa Sanpaolo Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group have applications in the pipeline, according to the CSRC’s website.

As of the end of June, there were 17 foreign-funded brokerages in China, including nine that are foreign owned, according to the Securities Association of China. The net profit of foreign-backed securities companies accounts for 5.5 percent of the industry’s total, their revenue makes up 7.15 percent and their assets account for 5.6 percent.

Foreign-funded financial institutions are also actively seeking new business licenses. Eight small and medium-sized brokerages, half of which are foreign-backed, have been given the nod by regulators to carry out alternative investments since 2021. This includes Singapore's DBS Securities China.

Editor: Kim Taylor