[ET Net News Agency, 29 June 2020] Morgan Stanley sees limited fundamental impact to
top brokers in the case of license extension to banks, with more divergence possible.
Caixin reported on 26 June that CSRC is considering extending securities licenses to at
least two banks as part of a pilot scheme. These may start as investment banking (IB)
licenses rather than comprehensive securities licenses.
The research house believes a full license extension may still be some time away. Morgan
thinks a full license extension would likely cause some fundamental changes to the
financial industry, but it would expect more of a threat to securities companies if
Internet companies were granted securities licenses.
Morgan thinks there could be some negative impact on market sentiment toward broker
stocks in general. However, it also sees potential for a rise in positive market sentiment
from more optimism and belief toward capital market reforms where brokers are also direct
beneficiaries, which could offset some of the negative sentiment impacts. (KL)