Financial sector reform gains speed

China will give qualified foreign companies full-fledged licenses for providing financial services in the next three years, as part of its efforts to further open the sector to global investors, a top government official said on Friday.

"After removing the foreign equity limits for the banking industry, we will open the insurance and securities sectors in the next three years," Finance Minister Liu Kun said at a forum held by the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) in Beijing.

The measures will benefit a broad range of foreign countries and people, and are an indication that China's gate will not close, but open further, said the minister.