Perhaps it was inevitable that China would enter the financial services arena. Perhaps we'll look back some day and say the country's $3 billion investment in the Blackstone Group was the first step. Another step, the China Development Bank has pledged roughly $3 billion to invest in ABN Amro [1] via Barclays, which was able to boost its bid and add a cash component. It's unclear whether this will be enough to win against the Royal Bank of Scotland's group, but it is a more competitive fight. The other new partner that Barclays has lined up is Temasek, Singapore's national investment company. We're seeing some interesting forays into financial services by Asian banks. So financial services investment is a two-way street.  

For more:
- here's a New York Times article [2]