Half of Chinese financial services companies expect to take part in mergers and acquisitions in 2008, according to a survey published on Tuesday by PwC, which expects China to remain the most active M&A market in Asia.

Indian financial firms are also optimistic, with 34 per cent expecting to do deals this year. On average, 40 per cent of financial services companies in Asia expect to undertake M&A transactions in 2007 and 70 per cent expect to do so within five years.