2009-05-26 Yinchuan
Banks in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region are cutting fees in order to secure more customers. On May 18, Bank of Communications announced that from June 1 the bank will cut the service fee for online interbank remittance from 0.7 to 0.2 percent of the remittance amount and cut the maximum fee for a single remittance transaction from RMB 50 (approx. US$7.3) to RMB 20.
HSBC may find acquisition opportunities at the end of this year or early next year as it expects consolidation in the banking industry, group chief executive Michael Geoghegan said. Geoghegan noted that the bank will take two years to study if the credit card business in the US can be linked to those in other regions and to see if the economic situation will further deteriorate. Despite the fast growth in bad debts, he is still optimistic about the future development of the bank's credit card business.
2009-05-15 Zhengzhou
Bank of East Asia, the largest independent local bank in Hong Kong, plans to open a branch in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China and has applied for approval with the Banking Regulatory Commission of the province. The branch is expected to open for business late this year if everything is coming up roses. In addition, Standard Chartered Bank has inspected the city many times, aiming to speed up its efforts to establish a branch in the city.
2009-05-11 Hong Kong
Supplement VI to the Mainland-Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) has been signed recently in Hong Kong, expanding the total number of service sectors covered from 40 to 42. Under the new supplemental CEPA pact, branches established by a Hong Kong bank in Guangdong Province can set up "cross-location" sub-branches within Guangdong and Hong Kong commercial banks can establish service points in Guangdong without first establishing branches there. A spokesperson for the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region said that the most attractive point in the new pact is that it can help Hong Kong's banks expand business further in mainland China. In addition, qualified Hong Kong securities companies and Mainland securities companies which satisfy the requirements for establishing subsidiaries will be able to set up in Guangdong joint-venture securities investment advisory companies. The percentage of shareholding of the Hong Kong securities company can, at a maximum, reach one third of the total shareholding of such a joint venture securities investment advisory company.
2009-05-06 Changchun
As of the end of March, Bank of Jilin saw its total assets reach RMB109.5 billion (approx US$16 billion), an increase of 113 percent when compared to October 2007, when the bank was established. Both deposits and loans of the bank have experienced substantial growth since its inception.
2009-04-29 Taibei
Private Equity Management Group (PEMGroup), implicated by the U.S.SEC in alleged fraud, sold a total of approximately US$700 million worth of financial products to investors in Taiwan through local banks. Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission compiled the total after talking to six Taiwanese banks that are known to have distributed products by PEMGroup.
2009-04-28 Chongqing
The Chongqing branch of the People's Bank of China said that deposits in local and foreign currencies in Chongqing increased 32.5 percent year on year to RMB922.7 billion (US$135 billion) during the first quarter of 2009, a growth rate 13.6 percentages higher than that recorded a year earlier. During the first quarter of this year, yuan-denominated deposits in the city increased 33 percent over the same period of a year earlier.
2009-04-28 Changchun
The city government of Liaoyuan, Jilin province, China has established a financial cooperation arrangement valued at RMB4 billion (US$586 million) with China Development Bank and signed 16 major investment projects with a total value of RMB18.8 billion (US$2.7 billion). In addition, 8 financial institutions, led by the government, have provided RMB600 million (US$88 million) in loans for 6 small and medium-sized enterprises to help them ride out tough conditions and return to profitability.
2009-04-27 Nanjing
A financial cooperation agreement between Taiwan and China will pave the way for greater access by the Taiwanese financial sector to the Chinese market, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Sean Chen said yesterday. The agreement is one of three accords expected to be signed today in Nanjing at the third meeting between Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung and his Chinese counterpart, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin.
2009-04-27 Hong Kong
HSBC Holdings said Friday it will shut its equity research and trading businesses in Japan and move them to its Asia headquarters in Hong Kong. HSBC Tokyo spokesman Paul Allen said the move "may result in a reduction of a number of positions." However, he declined to say how many staff will lose their jobs.
