(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2007-07-10 13:06

Taiwan Securities Co said yesterday it is lobbying Chinese mainland and Taiwan stock regulators to allow it to invest in a mainland brokerage, and the broker aims to help Taiwan-based firms eventually list on mainland bourses.

The broker is awaiting a memorandum of understanding, which the two regulators from the mainland and Taiwan are studying, to boost ties between brokerages, its chairman Thomas Wu said on the sidelines of an industry forum in Shanghai.

"We hope the MOU would be signed soon so that we can enter the mainland market as quickly as possible," said Wu. "We wish to cooperate with a mainland broker to conduct several businesses here."

Taiwan Securities set up a representative office in Shanghai in 2005 to research on Chinese mainland equities. "If regulators allow, we will certainly enter the mainland market (by investing in a mainland securities firm)," Wu said.

The Chinese mainland stock regulator has pledged to let overseas financial institutions buy into domestic brokerages after the mainland completes a securities industry overhaul in August.

The mainland regulator now caps combined overseas investment in a single domestic broker at 25 percent and allows a single foreign investor to take up to a 20-percent stake.

So far, only a limited number of foreign institutions such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have joint-stock investment-banking ventures on the mainland.

Wu said that his company would consider an equity investment in Orient Securities Co with which it co-hosted yesterday's forum, among other options to tap the mainland market.

"We surely want to tie up with quality brokers like Orient Securities," Wu said, noting formal discussions won't start before the regulatory nod.

Hsu Daw-yi, president of Taiwan Securities, said many Taiwan-based enterprises strongly wish to list on the Shanghai or Shenzhen market.

"We will try to help them list on the mainland through cooperation with mainland brokers," said Hsu.