China’s status as one of the world’s hottest new markets for private banking and wealth management has been reinforced with developing moves...

China’s status as one of the world’s hottest new markets for private banking and wealth management has been reinforced with developing moves from UBS as well as from ING’s Chinese interest, the Bank of Beijing. With global banks and their Chinese partners positioning themselves for new opportunities in the high net worth market, UBS has revealed it expects final regulatory approval by year-end for the equities firm Beijing Securities, in which it is planning to have a stake. Speaking in Sydney, UBS global head of investment banking Huw Jenkins told reporters that the bank was “close” to final approvals for Beijing Securities. “We hope to get our final approvals by the end of this year and we would hope that we are up and running in the first quarter of next year,” said Mr Jenkins. UBS plans to pay $210 million for a 20 per cent stake in Beijing Securities, and has been waiting for more than a year to complete the deal. Meanwhile, the Bank of Beijing, in which ING has a 19.9 per cent interest, has said it will become the first of China’s 100 commercial banks to be approved to issue overseas wealth management products to onshore investors. The bank has become a qualified domestic institutional investor, a programme launched earlier this year that allows limited levels of capital outflows from China. ING has held its stake in the Bank of Beijing since 2005. The bank has 120 branches in the capital, and its assets totalled just under $30 billion at the end of June.