It's being reported that China will roll out a pilot program to allow selected commercial banks to set up equity investment arms to make direct investments in technology firms.
Banks will also be allowed to buy stakes in these firms.
The program, dubbed an "investment and loan linkage mechanism", is set to start sometime this year after approval by the State Council.
Under the current commercial banking law, lenders are banned from directly investing in equities of non-bank institutions.
Earlier last year, a senior official from the China Banking Regulatory Commission said they were considering such a linkage.
