Bank of Communications plans to invest up to a billion dollars to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in Hong Kong. The new entity will focus exclusively on retail and private banking business.
The Shanghai based bank said in a statement on its website, that it proposes to transfer the assets and liabilities, which constitute the retail and private banking businesses in Hong Kong of the Hong Kong Branch of the bank, to the new subsidiary, Bank of Communications (Hong Kong).
Following the transfer, the existing Hong Kong branch will then focus on providing corporate banking services. «The investment aims to expand and intensify the bank's retail and private banking businesses by building on its strong foundation in Hong Kong,» it said in the statement.
Moving Out
On the back of their country's growing prosperity China's largest banks have been expanding their footprint in the international wealth management space.
China Merchants Bank recently launched a new private banking center in Singapore, part of a plan to follow the growing flow of Chinese wealth into overseas markets.
Rapid Wealth Accumulation
In an interview with «Bloomberg Television» China Merchants Bank (CMB) vice president Liu Jianjun spoke of his ambition to make his bank the largest private bank in Asia.
Currently that crown belongs to Switzerland's UBS, however the bullish Liu believes his bank will soon break into the top ten largest private banks in the world thanks to the rapid growth of China's domestic wealth.
