China is set to grant London-based investors the right to use their yuan to buy up to 80 billion yuan ($13 billion) worth of mainland stocks, bonds and money market instruments, the Chinese and British governments said on Tuesday.

The approval for London's right to join the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor plan, also known as the RQFII, marks the first time the scheme has expanded beyond Hong Kong.

In return, the British government has agreed to start talks to allow Chinese banks to set up wholesale units in the UK, the two governments said in a statement.