Nomura Holdings Inc, Japan's biggest brokerage and investment bank, applied to set up a joint venture (JV) brokerage in China on Tuesday, in which it is seeking a 51 percent stake. It is the latest move since China's securities regulator vowed to allow foreign financial institutions to hold controlling stakes in new securities brokerages last month.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has confirmed that it received Nomura's application and said it will review it effectively.

"We have applied to set up a securities JV in China. We are currently discussing the details with the relevant parties and are unable to comment further at this stage," Nomura said in a note sent to the Global Times.

The company also said it has appointed Ting Lu as its chief China economist to lead a team of economists that will forecast China's economic trajectory and drive thought leadership on macroeconomic themes that shape the country.

It is the second foreign financial firm to seek a controlling stake in its Chinese business after Swiss bank UBS Group AG said on May 3 that it had applied for a controlling stake somewhere between 24.99 percent and 51 percent in its current JV.

At the end of last week, China's securities regulator issued guidelines to allow foreign firms to own a majority stake in local securities JVs, in a bid to show the Chinese government's efforts to further open up the financial sector.