Beijing is considering allowing Wall Street firms to run their own investment-banking businesses on the mainland, according to people briefed on the discussions, a long-awaited step that would give them more access to China’s hard-to-crack domestic market.
The move is being discussed as part of a new U.S.-China trade and investment framework. Firms such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. potentially could operate investment-banking business in China on their own. Currently, the firms must pair with domestic brokerages in joint ventures.
The people briefed on the discussions caution negotiations aren’t finalized. Details need to be hashed out with Chinese regulators, and any agreement would need to be ratified by the U.S. Senate.
