"Under the principle of treating foreign and domestic companies equally, we will remove caps on both foreign and domestic single shareholders' investment in a local commercial bank," saidGuo Shuqing, Party Secretary of the Chinese central bank and head of CBIRC in an announcement on the regulator's website.

While China has taken measures to ease barriers of entry for global firms, the efforts haven't so far changed the competitive landscape. In sectors from banking to insurance and brokerage, local firms still dominate with more than 90% market share. Lengthy and often opaque application processes can deter foreign investors, while key areas of finance, such as bond underwriting, are mainly reserved for domestic companies, Bloombergreported.

Economists and political observers say that the announced measures to open up China's financial sector are a sign from Beijing that a deal ending the trade war is about to happen. The fact that CBIRC gave much more detail on the new regulations than usual suggests that the trade talks may have acted as a catalyst.

Pedro Goncalves International Investment May 2nd 2019