BIZCHINA / Biz News
Bank of Beijing opens Tianjin branch
By Zhang Lu (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-09 09:02
Bank of Beijing, one of China's largest city commercial banks, plans to
open at least 10 outlets in the northern city of Tianjin, including the
city's Binhai New Area, in the next three years, the bank's top
management said yesterday.
The bank, the second of the country's 117 city commercial banks to be
allowed to venture beyond its home base, yesterday opened its Tianjin
branch, the first one outside Beijing.
Earlier this year, the Bank of Shanghai opened a branch in Ningbo in East
China's Zhejiang Province.
Such an expansion will help city commercial banks compete when their
bigger foreign rivals launch renminbi services for individuals at the end
of this year, in line with China's World Trade Organization commitments.
"The establishment of the Tianjin branch is a strategic move to better
integrate resources, build networks and meet growing customer demands,"
said Yan Bingzhu, chairman of Bank of Beijing.
According to him, expanding into Tianjin is a natural choice, given the
close economic and geographic relationship between Beijing and the city.
The central government's decision to make Tianjin a financial hub in the
north, and designate the Binhai New Area as an experimental zone for
comprehensive reforms, has brought development opportunities for
financial institutions in the city.
A group of foreign banks have shown interest in setting up outlets in the
Binhai New Area, said Zhang Hua, chief of the Tianjin bureau of the China
Banking Regulatory Commission.
"Japan's Mizuho Bank has applied for it and is likely to be the first to
win approval to set up a branch in the area by the end of the year,"
Zhang said.
Cui Jindu, Tianjin's vice-major, said the city welcomes financial
institutions from home and abroad to develop businesses.
Jiang Deyao, assistant president of Bank of Beijing, was appointed as the
head of the Tianjin branch, which will focus on both corporate and
individual services by using its brand advantage and its strategic
partner ING's strength in products and technology.
The branch, on its opening day, signed co-operation deals with six
companies in Tianjin, including Tianjin TEDA Investment Holding Co and
Tianjin Fisheries Group.
"The expansion into Tianjin shows our transformation from a local
commercial bank to a national one," Yan said, adding that it is only "the
first step in the bank's national expansion." In addition to expansion
in Tianjin, Bank of Beijing will speed up its expansion in cities around
the Bohai Area.
It is also planning more outlets in the Yangtze and Pearl River Delta
regions, officials revealed earlier.
With better performance than most city commercial banks, Bank of
Beijing's capital adequacy ratio stood at beyond 13 per cent by the end
of September.
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