According to the commission, private investment in SOEs is carried out mostly through deals with SOE subsidiaries or State-owned enterprises at the provincial level.

However, in a rare exception, Fosun established a joint venture with China National Medicine Corp in 2003 with registered capital of 1.027 billion yuan, the biggest deal yet between private and State-owned companies.

With its 500 million yuan investment, Fosun owns 49 percent of the venture, and the State-run CNM owns 51 percent.

Bai said that this is a pilot deal for injecting private capital into State-owned assets.

Diversified ownership is the direction for SOE reform. "All kinds of companies could join SOE restructuring," said Bai.

During the World Economic Forum in September, Premier Li Keqiang said that the government will ease market access to financial institutions of various ownerships to develop their business, including both private and foreign companies.

China's five biggest banks accounted for 35 percent of the profits by the country's 500 biggest companies last year, data from the Chinese Enterprise Confederation show.

Singaporean investment company Temasek Holdings has been optimistic about China's banking sector.

Its investment in China Construction Bank accounted for 8 percent of the Singapore State investor's portfolio. Temasek holds stakes of almost $18 billion in China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of China, making it the biggest foreign investor in Chinese banks.

Privately held companies are showing increasing interest in tapping into the financial sector.

Retail giant Suning Commerce Group and Gree Electric Appliances were reported to have applied for banking licenses in September, just one month after the State Council said it would launch pilot programs for banks by private investors.