a new wave of partnership with China

--Credit Suisse Group has reached to form an investment-banking joint venture with China Founder. --If approved, the joint venture would be among the first to take advantage of a long-promised opening. The China Securities Regulatory Commission has promised to lift its moratorium on approving new joint ventures with foreign securities firms this year. --Credit Suisse won roles on the world's largest stock deals including the $21.9 billion initial public offering of stock in Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., and the $9.2 billion IPO of China Construction Bank Corp --with domestic firms handling almost all offerings for Class A shares, as they are known, the urgency for Wall Street investment banks to get access to the market has been growing. --Since the 1990s, Morgan Stanley has owned about 34% of China International Capital Corp., which dominates underwriting in China. --In 2004, the Chinese government also permitted Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to establish a venture in China, and a year later UBS AG agreed to buy into a local brokerage. But in late 2005, Chinese securities regulators stopped accepting new applications for foreign joint ventures, and moved to restructure the domestic industry. --Even as foreigners have been kept out of China, Chinese firms have started to court partners in markets overseas, including on Wall Street. In October, China's largest brokerage, Citic Securities Co., announced a reciprocal investment plan with Bear Stearns Cos.