(Yicai Global) Sept. 26 -- The Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission has approved Daiwa Securities Group's application to set up a majority-owned joint venture in China, paving the way for the Japanese brokerage to become the fourth from overseas to have control over its local unit.

The regulator greenlit the move on Sept. 24, it said online yesterday. Daiwa will take a 51 percent stake in the venture, leaving Beijing State-owned Capital Operation and Management Center with 33 percent and another Chinese shareholder with 16 percent of equity, China Securities Journal cited a source close to Japan's second-largest securities broker as saying.

Only two non-Chinese brokers have set up local joint ventures with a controlling stake so far: J.P. Morgan Chase and Nomura Securities. UBS Securities took control of its existing China unit in December 2018, eight months months after China relaxed rules on foreign ownership and allowed international brokers to run their Chinese ventures.

Beijing plans to keep easing restrictions in the sector in order to open China's financial markets up further to the rest of the world, the report cited people close to the securities watchdog as saying, adding that this could lead to an accelerated rise in foreign-controlled brokers.

Editor: James Boynton