(Yicai Global) Jan. 8 -- Jiangsu-based Huatai Securities Co. has got the green light from regulators to conduct cross-border business under a pilot program, making it the second company to obtain such approval this year.

Under the trial, Huatai will be able to trade financial products with foreign exchanges using their own funds; trade financial products and derivatives with foreign counterparties; and help customs trade foreign products, it said in a statement yesterday. Guotai Junan Securities Co. bagged approval for the pilot on Jan. 5.

China's securities industry is accelerating its opening up following the internationalization of the country's capital market and the yuan. Growing demand for cross-border wealth management, investment and financing gives big brokers a chance to embrace development, an unidentified source from one brokerage said.

China Securities Regulatory Commission requires the two brokerages to keep a tight rein on the volume of cross-border transactions, and has capped such trade at 20 percent of the companies' net capital.

The brokerages were the first to get the green light since Haitong Securities Co. secured approval in 2015, Securities Times reported today. Several industry-leading firms are applying to do the same and are likely to get the go-ahead, an unidentified source from the CSRC said.