The Royal Bank of Scotland Group and its local Chinese partner launched their joint venture Huaying Securities today, hoping to tap a piece of the booming investment banking business in the country.

"From today, Huaying is licensed to underwrite and sponsor stocks and bonds issued in mainland China, tapping China's huge and growing investment banking market," they said in a statement ahead of a launch ceremony in the eastern city of Wuxi, not far from Shanghai.

Foreign players are rushing to get into the lucrative underwriting business in China, which became the world's top IPO market last year after companies raised a record $70 billion in proceeds.

In January, the securities regulator approved the joint ventures of JP Morgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley, enabling the two to underwrite stocks and bonds in the country.

Smaller Chinese investment banks, such as Shenzhen-based Ping An Securities and Guosen Securities, dominated the underwriting business last year after the launch of the country's Nasdaq-style Chinext market spurred a wave of IPOs by small- and medium-sized companies.

UBS is planning to treble its research team to more than 100 people by mid-2012, hoping to set up its presence on the IPO market, a senior company official told Reuters in January.

The local partner of Credit Suisse , Founder Securities, is expected to receive approval from the securities regulator later in the day for its $1.5 billion Shanghai-listing, which could be the biggest IPO in China so far this year.

RBS will hold a one-third stake in the JV with Guolian Securities, in line with China's limit on the amount a foreign company may hold in a brokerage joint venture.

Reuters