* Credit Suisse exec says China JV is growing headcount
* Credit Suisse JV has doubled in size since inception
* Credit Suisse China exec sees cultural challenges for JV
By Denny Thomas and Steve Eder
HONG KONG, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Credit Suisse wants to expand its Chinese securities joint venture after almost doubling its staff since the launch, betting on a healthy pipeline of IPOs and M&As in the world's second-biggest economy, one of the firm's top bankers said on Wednesday.
Credit Suisse's joint venture with Founder Securities Ltd was the first securities JV approved by the Chinese regulator since new guidelines were put in place in December 2007. The rules cap foreign banks' ownership at a third of the joint venture.
Zhang Liping, Credit Suisse's China Chief Executive told Reuters in an interview that his firm is positioning itself through the JV for growth in the competitive but fast growing market.
"For the next three years, the China banking market will be big enough for many players to come in," he said from Credit Suisse's Hong Kong office.
He said he expected to see more acquisitions by Chinese state-owned enterprises in coming years. He also projected private sector companies ramping up overseas acquisitions.
Credit Suisse launched the joint venture with less than 50 staff but doubled the head count in less than one year. Many of the hires were from the domestic brokerages, who are lured to global banks due to higher rewards and the opportunity to work with internationally known brands, Liping said.
Liping said while the JV has been profitable and making good progress, the key challenge for the venture is the cultural differences that they face.
"Of course, there will be some clashes. The success of these type of JVs is to integrate, find a good balance to integrate culture," Liping added.
The Chinese investment banking market is dominated by two domestic institutions: Citic Securities and CICC. Increasingly, the investment bank arms of commercial banks including Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank are also making a big push into investment banking.
"The five Chinese brokerage houses will dominate the domestic market. We will see increased competition from those five domestic players," Liping added.
But the lack of global sales networks and disparity in salaries are the factors which the domestic brokerages need to address to provide head on competition to the foreign banks.
Goldman Sachs, UBS and Deutsche Bank also have a securities joint venture in China. (Reporting by Steve Eder and Denny Thomas; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)