More banks seek access to equities market in China

For banks looking to seize market share in the lucrative Asian equities business, all eyes are on China.

Three banks with very little history as global stock underwriters are diving into the business across Asia and beyond, hoping to gain ground in places such as China.

Top Asia executives at Barclays, Nomura Holdings and Standard Chartered who spoke at the recent Reuters Japan Investment Summit in Tokyo discussed their plans to build out an equities platform in Asia.

For Barclays and Nomura, part of that build-out will come from the purchase of the very same company: Lehman Brothers.

After Lehman collapsed last year, Barclays bought the US-based company's investment banking unit, while Nomura bought the company's Asian, European and Middle East divisions.

"Now that we're into the equities business we need to figure out how to get into the securities business much more in China," said Robert Morrice, the Asia Pacific chairman and chief executive for Barclays.

Morrice said that acquiring Lehman's stock business in the United States has helped Barclays win clients in Asia, especially among Asian companies that want to list in the United States.

Nomura didn't start marketing its services in equity until January, Nomura COO Takumi Shibata said.

According to Shibata, having the Lehman Brothers platform has allowed Nomura to win equity mandates in Asia and other parts of the globe. To broaden its reach across Asia, Nomura now is seeking a securities deal in China.

Patrick Gillot, Standard Chartered's Japan CEO, told the Summit that a major driver of that deal was the access it allowed Standard Chartered to the Chinese market.

Reuters

(China Daily 07/20/2009 page4)