BANGKOK – U.S. officials pressed Beijing on market access issues for Mastercard Inc and Citigroup Inc during at least two bilateral meetings with Chinese counterparts in Bangkok this week, according to a U.S. Treasury official.
The Treasury delegation, led by Deputy Secretary Francis Brooke, held bilateral meetings with officials from the People's Bank of China and the finance ministry on the sidelines of the Group of 20 finance meetings and the IMF-World Bank annual gathering this week, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door meetings.
The talks included market access for U.S. companies, including Mastercard, Visa and Citigroup, the official said, adding that regulatory approval was part of the agreement reached during the meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping during the latter's state visit in Washington last month.
The sideline meetings in Bangkok continued discussions on implementing these deals, the official said.
The PBOC, China's National Financial Regulatory Administration, China Securities Regulatory Commission, Chinese embassies in Singapore and Thailand, the U.S. Treasury Department press office and Visa did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. Citigroup and Mastercard declined to comment.