The Xi Jinping administration, through the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC), has confirmed on Sunday that it has already been intensifying its efforts to open up the country's financial sector to foreign financial institutions, an evidence of which is the agency's release of approval to two international companies allowing them to gain market access in China.
According to Reuters, the national banking and insurance regulator, with the backing of the government, is ramping up in its efforts to bring more foreign companies into the country, with more than 10 firms already been given the green light.
One of the companies making the business news wave as of late is Germany's Allianz Group which was given by Beijing the go-ahead to set up a 100 percent owned insurance holding company in Shanghai next year - four years earlier than what was initially proposed.
As pointed out by South China Morning Post, the swiftness of the government's approval is a clear signal that China is serious, more than ever, in its promise to open up its doors through its banking and insurance sectors.
Quoted over at SCMP, CBIRC said on its official website that the commission is implementing in its full intent the initiative of the Xi Jinping admin to further expand the country's so-called opening-up policies.
President Xi himself made it clear this month, during a conference in Shanghai, that China is ramping up its efforts to broaden market access for foreign players. At the same time, the government is boosting imports and strengthening the country's intellectual property rights.
The regulation commission, on the other hand, has issued several guidelines to help promote foreign investment influx in China's burgeoning financial sector.
As mentioned earlier, there were already a number of overseas companies who got the approved stamps on their applications. Allianz was, in fact, the first international financial firm to be given the approval in setting up a wholly-owned holding company in China.
Over at Reuters, Allianz chief executive Oliver Bate said that China's quick decision to approve their proposal was considered as a significant milestone for the company's overseas expansion plans.
The group, as Bate added, expected for the holding company to be established and to begin its operations by the year 2019.
Aside from Allianz, CBRIC said that it has also recently given the go signal for other financial firms such as Taiwan's Fubon Bank, ICBC-AXA Assurance Co., Ltd., and the Korean Reinsurance Co. Each of the aforementioned companies can now set up their own respective local units.
