Xi Meets With International Business Leaders

A rundown of the news making headlines in and around China:

Xi meets business leaders: President Xi Jinping met with international business leaders on Friday morning, where he highlighted support for foreign investment, according to a Xinhua report. China will expand opening-up with a focus on lowering the market access thresholds; ensure foreign-invested enterprises in China enjoy equal treatment; and strengthen communication with foreign businesspeople, Xi said. The country will also make trade and investment as convenient as possible for foreign-invested enterprises and protect their legitimate rights and interests. The president also stressed his support for multilateralism and economic globalization. The meeting comes against the backdrop of a weak domestic economy and heightened global trade tensions, with recent tariff hikes on Chinese exports by a U.S. administration that is proving capricious in its foreign economic policy. More than 40 chairpersons, CEOs and business association representatives attended the meeting, including those from FedEx Corp., Mercedes-Benz Group AG, HSBC Group, SK Hynix Inc. and Saudi Aramco.

Speakers at Xi’s Meeting With Global Business Leaders

UBS takes ownership: China’s securities regulator has approved UBS to take full control of UBS Securities, marking a milestone in the Swiss bank’s China strategy. UBS will acquire an additional 33% stake in UBS Securities from Beijing State-owned Assets Management Co. Ltd., taking its ownership in the brokerage house from 67% to 100%. The approval completes a series of transactions following UBS’s merger with Credit Suisse. The deal makes UBS Securities the fifth wholly foreign-owned securities firm in China, after Goldman Sachs (China) Securities Co, Ltd., J.P. Morgan Securities PLC, Standard Chartered Securities PLC, and BNP Paribas Securities Corp.