China Securities, a Beijing-based investment bank, has opened a regional office in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) after being authorised by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the centre said on 28 September 2026.

The firm, formally CSC Financial, works in equity and debt capital markets, investment banking, asset management and institutional services. It is listed in Hong Kong and Shanghai, and its largest shareholders are Beijing Financial Holdings Group and Central Huijin Investment, the state investment company.

DIFC said the office will serve as a base for the group’s work with clients, investors and financial institutions across the Middle East, and will strengthen connectivity between Chinese, UAE and international capital markets. Neither DIFC nor the firm has said which activities the DFSA authorisation covers or who will run the office.

Eight Chinese firms in the centre

China Securities joins seven Chinese institutions already in DIFC: Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, Bank of Communications, China Construction Bank, China International Capital Corporation, China Merchants Bank International and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

China’s five largest banks hold more than 30% of the total assets in DIFC’s banking and capital markets sector, according to the centre’s own figures. Most of that presence is commercial banking. China Securities and CICC are the two securities houses on the list.

Dubai and Hong Kong regulators start working together

The opening follows a joint working group announced on 10 September by the DFSA, Nasdaq Dubai, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing. Its terms cover sustainable finance, Islamic finance, innovation, capital markets development and connectivity between the two markets.

Bonnie Y Chan, chief executive of HKEX, said:

“Hong Kong and Dubai have complementary strengths that can help facilitate the two-way flow of capital, ideas and opportunities.”

Hamed Ali, chief executive of Nasdaq Dubai, pointed to the exchange’s position as a leading international hub for fixed income and Islamic finance listings.

The group has not yet announced any specific measures, such as cross-listing arrangements or links between the two exchanges. Its terms of reference were signed at the HKMA-DFSA Joint Climate Finance Conference in Hong Kong. China Securities is the first Chinese securities firm to open in DIFC since the group was formed.

The UAE’s links to China also run through central bank infrastructure. The Central Bank of the UAE is a member of mBridge, the multi-central bank digital currency platform it shares with the People’s Bank of China, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Bank of Thailand. Saudi Arabia’s central bank confirmed this month that its own membership ended after the platform’s proof-of-concept phase in 2025.

The digital assets link

The working group’s remit includes innovation alongside capital markets, and Hong Kong’s regulators have spent 2026 building rules for tokenised finance. The HKMA granted its first stablecoin issuer licences to HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial on 10 April. The same month, the Securities and Futures Commission set out a framework for secondary trading of tokenised versions of SFC-authorised investment products.

Mainland brokerages have been moving into the same market through their Hong Kong subsidiaries. Guotai Junan International, the Hong Kong arm of Guotai Haitong, won SFC approval in 2025 to offer virtual asset trading through an upgrade to its securities dealing licence, China Daily reported at the time. China Securities has not announced a similar licence for its Hong Kong business, and nothing disclosed about its DIFC office mentions digital assets.

The UAE’s links to China also run through central bank infrastructure. The Central Bank of the UAE is a member of mBridge, the multi-central bank digital currency platform it shares with the People’s Bank of China, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Bank of Thailand. Saudi Arabia’s central bank confirmed this month that its own membership ended after the platform’s proof-of-concept phase in 2025, which leaves the UAE as the only Gulf central bank on the platform.