U.S. raises Mastercard, Citigroup China market access in bilateral Bangkok talks, official says

U.S. officials raised market access issues for Mastercard and Citigroup in bilateral meetings with Chinese counterparts in Bangkok, according to a U.S. Treasury official cited by CNBC. The Treasury delegation, led by Deputy Secretary Francis Brooke, met officials from the People’s Bank of China and China’s finance ministry alongside the G20 finance meetings and the IMF-World Bank gathering, with progress tied to an agreement reached during the Trump–Xi Washington meeting.

The article says the talks included market access for U.S. financial firms including Mastercard, Visa and Citigroup. It also notes that regulatory approval was part of the understanding from Washington, and that ongoing discussions in Bangkok aimed to implement these deals. Separately, China approved on Oct. 13 that Visa can begin preparing for a wholly owned domestic card-clearing business, with up to a year to prepare before applying for an operating license, as described in the piece.

For Mastercard, the article says it currently operates yuan card payments in China via a local joint venture, and that pending approval would allow it to operate independently. For Citigroup, it describes the bank’s pursuit of a wholly owned securities license for onshore A-share brokerage, underwriting, research and principal trading.

What to watch next is whether these approvals translate into concrete licensing timelines and operational changes, and whether the broader U.S.–China regulatory tone remains “benign,” which would feed into investor expectations for China-linked risk assets and cross-border capital flows—channels that can matter for USD and for broader EUR/GBP risk sentiment.