Citigroup (C) Moves Deeper Into China’s Capital Markets as Competition Intensifies

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C ) is reportedly expecting Chinese regulatory approval for its wholly owned mainland brokerage business as soon as September 2026. The bank applied for the licence in late 2021 and has spent the intervening years building out the business in preparation for approval. Citi now plans to roughly double the unit's headcount to around 100 employees by the end of the year, using a combination of internal transfers and external hires.

The licence would allow Citi to conduct A-share brokerage, underwriting, research and principal trading in mainland China. The new operation would complement Citi's existing China business, which already provides corporate, commercial and institutional banking services, including foreign exchange, cash management and trade finance. The bank intends to use this existing client base to pursue equity and M&A mandates, with a particular focus on technology, healthcare, consumer and financial companies, including AI and chip firms.

The opportunity is significant because China's onshore securities market has become increasingly attractive. Reuters reported that profits at Goldman Sachs' wholly owned China securities unit nearly tripled to 1.46 billion yuan in 2025, while JPMorgan's profits almost quadrupled to 984 million yuan and Morgan Stanley's rose sevenfold to 138 million yuan. These gains were supported by stronger securities trading activity, particularly among institutional clients.

The biggest positive for Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) is that the brokerage licence would give the bank a much broader presence in China's domestic capital markets. Rather than relying primarily on its offshore China franchise, Citi would be able to participate directly in A-share trading, underwriting and other onshore securities activities. This could open up an additional source of fee and trading revenue while deepening the bank's relationships with Chinese corporations.

Citi also has an important advantage that some newer entrants may lack: an established onshore corporate and commercial banking client base. Reuters reported that the bank plans to use relationships built through foreign exchange, cash management and trade finance to win equity and M&A mandates. This gives Citi the potential to cross-sell brokerage and investment-banking services to existing customers instead of building its client network entirely from scratch.

The performance of other Wall Street firms provides a particularly encouraging precedent. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley all recorded substantial increases in profits at their wholly owned Chinese securities operations in 2025. If Citi can capture even a modest share of the same market, the new business could eventually become a meaningful contributor to its investment-banking and markets franchise.

The timing could also prove favorable. Reuters noted that Chinese companies are increasingly tapping domestic equity markets for fundraising while fund flows into Chinese stocks have increased. Beijing has also continued opening its financial sector to foreign firms in an effort to attract capital. That creates a potentially attractive environment for Citi to establish itself in China's capital markets.

More broadly, the move fits CEO Jane Fraser's effort to improve Citi's profitability over the next two years. Expanding into a growing market where Citi already has institutional relationships could provide another avenue for revenue diversification without requiring the bank to build an entirely new geographic franchise from the ground up.