SHANGHAI, April 2 Reuters U.S. private equity giant Warburg Pincus has applied to set up a securities joint venture in China, regulatory filings showed on Friday.

Warburg Pincus submitted an application for a brokerage joint venture on Friday, the China Securities Regulatory Commission CSRC said on its website.

No information was given on an intended Chinese partner or shareholder structure and Warburg Pincus declined to comment.

China fully opened its securities sector a year ago and global investment banks including UBS , Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have all moved to increase their stakes in Chinese ventures towards full control.

Warburg Pincus, the president of which is former U.S. treasury secretary Timothy Geithner, has been actively investing in Chinas financial, retail, pharmaceutical and tech industries.

Chinese financial firms partially owned by the New Yorkbased private equity investor include mutual fund house Hwabao WP Fund Management Co and China Huarong Asset Management Co. Warburg Pincus is also an investor in Chinese fintech giant Ant Group, controlled by Alibaba founder Jack Ma.

Reporting by Samuel Shen and Andrew Galbraith Editing by David Goodman

Source Reuters