BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment
HSBC to expand further
By Wang Zhenghua (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-31 09:17
HANGZHOU: Europe's biggest bank HSBC is seeking to expand its network in
China with no upper investment limit, its chairman said.
Vincent Cheng said he had confidence in China and the bank would "abide
by the regulations" which could require foreign lenders to locally
incorporate their business in order to provide renminbi services to
individual customers.
"We believe the country's economy will run well and on track, and our
strategy is to seek opportunities and open as many outlets as possible,"
he added.
"With total investment exceeding US$5 billion, we have no problem
investing more in China. We will expand our network based on the
regulations and customers' needs."
The bank's move to further tap the Yangtze River Delta region, home to
the country's most active private economy, will take its network to 25
outlets the largest of any foreign player.
"The opening of our Hangzhou branch on Tuesday is a major step for our
organic growth in China," said HSBC Chief Executive Officer China Richard
Yorke.
"At the heart of the Yangtze River Delta, Hangzhou has attracted
considerable overseas and domestic investment in recent years and offers
great potential for growth," he said.
"Hangzhou and Zhejiang Province do a lot of imports and exports, and a
lot of that comes from smaller companies. HSBC has the largest trade
finance business in Asia and the Pacific of any bank. It's an area of
significant focus for us in China."
HSBC is one of a cluster of foreign players pushing to expand their reach
in China in anticipation of the retail banking sector opening up.
Yorke said the bank had plans for more than 30 outlets by the end of this
year and would recruit at least 1,000 employees a year over the next two
years to support its expansion, which includes corporate and private
banking services.
Located in a prime location in Hangzhou's financial and commercial hub,
the Hangzhou branch offers a comprehensive range of corporate, commercial
and retail banking services in foreign currency to domestic and overseas
customers, including local and foreign-invested enterprises, local
citizens, foreign nationals and residents from Hong Kong, Macao and
Taiwan.
HSBC's premier services global wealth management for its retail banking
customers are also available at the new branch to meet increasing demand.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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