Taiwan and China sealed a memorandum of understanding on financial regulatory cooperation Monday that will allow each side greater access to the other's financial markets. The MOU, which will take effect within 60 days, will allow each side to set up bank branches in the other's territory and once further agreements are signed, could allow each side to invest in the other's banks. It is poised to give eight Taiwanese banking institutions which have maintained liaison offices around China, a shot in the arm by allowing them to open branches in China, something they have long wanted to do. 'It's better late than never, ' said Lin Ke-hsiao, president of Taishin Holdings. These banks are expected to soon file their applications with the Chinese authorities for upgrading their liaison offices into branches and launch talks with Chinese banks for strategic alliances or to buy into them. Acknowledging the clinching of the agreement, Yang Yi, spokesman for Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office, said it unveiled a new page of substantive financial cooperation across the Taiwan Strait. 'The MOU is ushering cross-strait financial cooperation into a substantive level,' Yang said. Describing it as 'having important significance on the history of cross-strait financial cooperation and engagement, ' Yang said the signing of the MOU will allow financial service sectors from the two sides to compliment each other, facilitate mutual development and improve financial services for Taiwanese businessmen operating in the Chinese mainland. The agreement was inked in Taipei and Beijing simultaneously at 6 p.m., with Sean Chen, chairman of Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission, signing the agreement on behalf of Taiwan in his capacity as the representative of Taiwan's financial supervision and regulatory organization. Three people -- Lin Minkang, Shang Fulin and Wu Dingfu -- inked the pact on behalf of China, in their capacity as representatives of the banking supervision and regulatory organization, representative of stocks and futures supervision and regulatory organization, and representative of insurance supervision and regulatory organization, respectively. The two sides made public the signing of the agreement simultaneously at 6:30 p.m., said Chen at a Taipei news conference. 'There was no English version of the pact and the copy of ours (Taiwan) was in traditional Chinese characters, while the copy of China's was in simplified Chinese characters,' Chen noted. 