CITIC to offer real estate financing
( 2002-08-02 09:51 ) (1 )

The CITIC Industrial Bank signed a strategic co-operation agreement with Century 21 Real Estate China on Thursday to provide real estate financing for Chinese consumers.

According to the agreement, the two sides will issue a co-branded bank card, provide housing mortgage loans for consumers and offer account settlement services providing consumers with easy and convenient ways to bank.

The two sides will also initiate more services to create co-operation in value-added intermediate businesses and to meet the demands of the future Chinese financial market.

"It is our goal to take good care of consumers' interests, by establishing and completing an internationalized real estate financial service system," said Bill Hunt, president of Century 21 Real Estate China.

The total size of housing mortgage loans as a result of the co-operation between the two will reach up to 3 billion yuan (US$361 million). "The co-operation is the first one between a multinational real estate organization and a bank in the Chinese mainland," Hunt said.

Founded in 1987, CITIC Industrial Bank is one of the new commercial banks that came into operation as a result of China's economic reform and opening up to the outside world.

It has established branches in all major Chinese cities and expanded its alliances with more than 900 bank institutes in more than 70 countries and regions throughout the world.

The bank is No 170 among the top 1,000 banks in the world based on total assets calculated by Banker magazine.

Century 21 Real Estate Corp, the franchiser of the world's largest home sales agency, entered the Chinese market in 2000.

Century 21 Real Estate China has so far franchised nine regions including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, with 82 offices in operation.