By Li Zengxin (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-01-03 10:16

III. Overseas branch opening

- BOC enters the Netherlands

On July 26, BOC celebrated with an opening ceremony for the BOC (Luxembourg) SA Rotterdam Branch in Netherlands, its first branch in that country. The Rotterdam branch had been operating on a trial basis since June 18. It mainly serves Chinese enterprises in Holland, overseas Chinese and Dutch companies doing business with China.

BOC Luxembourg was founded in 1979 as one of the earliest overseas Chinese bank branches and the first following 1978 reforms when China started to opening up to the outside world.

- BoCom sets up Macao, Europe branches

On October 22, Bank of Communications (BoCom) announced the opening of its Frankfurt branch in Germany, its first in Europe, which made BoCom the fourth Chinese bank stepping into the city following BOC, ICBC and China Construction Bank (CCB).

Analysts said the setup of Frankfurt branch not only filled up the blank space for BoCom in Europe, but turned out to be a key component of the bank's 24-7 foreign exchange operating system as a euro settlement and clearance center, together with its Shanghai and New York operations.

On November 1, the BoCom Macao Branch started operations. The Macao branch is another important step in BoCom's "rooted in Asia" strategy. As of then, BoCom had already set up over 50 operating units globally, covering the world's busiest economic hubs such as Hong Kong, Macao, Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, New York, London and Frankfurt. The number of its first-level overseas banking institutions is expected to reach 15 by 2010, sources said.

- CMB approved for New York Branch

On November 8, China Merchants Bank (CMB) was cleared by the Federal Reserve Board to open a branch in New York, the first by a Chinese lender since 1991.

CMB had opened a representative office in New York in October 2002 and applied in January this year to open a branch there. The nation's six-largest commercial bank had also opened its Hong Kong branch in August 2002.

ICBC followed with its own application in April, and CCB said it planed to follow with its own bid. Currently BOC is the only Chinese bank with a branch in the US.

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