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Bank of China's now been open for business in NZ for four years and wants to 'continue to leverage' its cross-border advantages to promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation

Banking
Bank of China's now been open for business in NZ for four years and wants to 'continue to leverage' its cross-border advantages to promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation

Bank of China celebrated four years on Wednesday since opening its doors in New Zealand and is promising to "continue to leverage our cross-border advantages to promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation".

The bank says its total NZ assets stand at NZ$2.23 billion (at 30 September 2018). Loans and advances have increased to $1.87 billion, representing 84% of total assets, with among these, personal loans comprising $850 million.

It's not the only Chinese banking giant taking big strides in New Zealand. ICBC NZ as of June had NZ$2.51 billion in assets and NZ$1.56 billion in loans and advances, while China Construction Bank (also at June) had NZ$1.65 billion in assets and NZ$1.27 billion of loans and advances.

Bank of China says its NZ staff numbers have more than quadrupled, from 14 to 69 people - and "the bank continues to seek additional talent". It says 85% of the team are local employees and to accommodate a growing headcount, and to offer additional services to corporate customers, Bank of China has refurbished and expanded into two additional floors at their headquarters at 205 Queen Street, Auckland, including a new customer floor.

Customers attended a special event marking the four year anniversary and the opening of the new customer floor on Wednesday night.

Bank of China (New Zealand) CEO David Wang said: “I am delighted by the progress Bank of China (New Zealand) has made in the last four years, and I am confident that there is an exciting future ahead. We will continue to leverage our cross-border advantages to promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation.”

The bank's core businesses services include commercial banking, a global trade service, corporate banking and financial markets services.

It lays claim to being "China’s most diversified and international bank", with a presence in 56 countries and regions and says its NZ team has been able to play a significant role in growing New Zealand’s trade interests with China.

"In the last four years more than 300 New Zealand companies have attended match-making events with their Chinese counterparts, both in China and New Zealand.

"The bank has also facilitated the attendance of 20 New Zealand companies at the SME Cross-border Investment and Trade Cooperation Conferences in Guizhou and Shaanxi in 2016 and the Industrial and Commercial Enterprises Cross-border Investment and Trade Events in Shenyang and Zhengzhou in 2018."

In the next 15 years, China is expected to import US$30 trillion worth of commodities, US$10 trillion worth of services and attract US$2 trillion of foreign direct investment.

Wang said: “The Bank of China (New Zealand) team will continue to work hard to ensure New Zealand leverages as much of the huge export potential to China as possible.”  

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2 Comments

'Many Happy 'Returns''

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Does anyone know if these guys are from the Austrian school, or committed to Keynesians?
- asking for a friend. : - )

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