OCBC offers retail yuan business - ResearchInChina
Date:2008-04-25
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OVERSEAS-CHINESE Banking Corp will offer retail yuan business to Chinese in Shanghai on Monday and it expects to do the same in Chengdu by June as it taps the country's rising demand for financial products.
The Singapore-based bank has a renminbi license for the Shanghai branch and is awaiting the go-ahead for its Chengdu branch. The bank, one of the big three in the island republic, will first focus on the retail yuan business to Chinese in the two cities where it already has subranches for retail banking, it said.
It may also expand the retail yuan business to Chinese in cities like Tianjin and Xiamen where it has branches. The bank plans to open branches in Beijing and Guangzhou this year, said Leong Wai Leng, chairman of OCBC Bank (China) Ltd, earlier this month. The bank has a representative office in Qingdao.
OCBC started operations as a locally incorporated entity in Shanghai in August with a registered capital of 3.5 billion yuan (US$500 million). It plans to quadruple its outlets and go on a hiring spree by 2010 to fully tap China's retail yuan market.
The bank said earlier it plans to raise its number of outlets to 20 by 2010 from five last year. The bank will boost its head count in China by five times to 1,000.
The bank holds 10 percent in Shanghai-listed Bank of Ningbo. It is also seeking partners in areas including securities and insurance, Leong said earlier.
The bank is the second Singapore lender, after DBS, to be locally incorporated in Shanghai. Other overseas lenders that are locally incorporated include Citi and HSBC. Local incorporation awards overseas banks a level playing field to fight with domestic rivals.
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