Citi's CEO went to China with Trump — then Beijing finally approved a deal she'd been championing for years

Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser was one of just two women among the 17 top executives President Donald Trump invited to China as part of his delegation. And on the eve of his summit with China's President Xi Jinping, the New York Times' DealBook reported that Beijing quietly approved Citigroup's long-pending application (1) to operate a wholly owned securities business in China, ending a regulatory wait that has stretched well past four years. Citi (NYSE: C) shares ticked higher following the news.

Of course, it's unclear if Fraser's presence on the trip moved the needle on this particular deal but the timing is difficult to ignore. What is clear is that her bank has been waiting for a very long time for this moment. Citigroup filed its application with the China Securities Regulatory Commission in December 2021 (2); the regulator didn't formally accept it for review until December 2023, per Caixin Global (3). With this nod, Citi becomes the seventh major foreign bank to fully own a Chinese brokerage, joining JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Standard Chartered, BNP Paribas, Mizuho and UBS.

A 124-year handshake with Shanghai

Citi, formerly The International Banking Corporation, opened in Shanghai in 1902 (4); locals actually called it the "Flower Flag" bank because residents saw stars on the American flag flying atop the building and thought they were flowers. The new license fills a hole Citi has been trying to plug since it exited a previous joint venture with Orient Securities in 2019 (5) after failing to negotiate majority control. China only scrapped its foreign-ownership cap on securities firms in April 2020 (6), but Citi's rivals moved significantly faster: JPMorgan got approval that August and Goldman Sachs got the green light two months later.

Brokerage in the band of brothers

The timing matters because Citi has spent Fraser's tenure shrinking its retail footprint — it sold its onshore consumer wealth portfolio to HSBC in 2024 (7) — while doubling down on institutional clients.