Wed, 31 Oct 2007
DPA
Beijing - A top Chinese banking official on Wednesday urged the nation's banks to invest in South-East Asia, saying it was a "strategic necessity." "It is a strategic necessity for us Chinese banks to gear up and grow ourselves into international institutions, because we have to be part of the global system," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Wang Yongli, vice president of the state-run Bank of China, as saying.
"The ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) market is of special significance in the process," Wang said in a speech at a China-ASEAN business conference in the southern city of Nanning.
He said Chinese banks could enter ASEAN markets by providing financial services to support infrastructure construction.
The Bank of China is the only Chinese bank operating in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore, Wang said.
But ASEAN-based banks have 36 branches in China, he said.
Most other Chinese banks had not yet devised detailed plans for exploring ASEAN markets, Wang said.
China is opening its banking sector to international competition under the World Trade Organisation rules framework, but most ASEAN nations are behind China in opening to foreign banks, he said.
The agency quoted commerce ministry spokesman Yao Shenhong as saying China and ASEAN hoped to conclude agreements next year to allow Chinese banks easier access to ASEAN markets.
The two sides are committed to opening up their banking sectors under the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area agreement on trade in services, signed in January.
The Bank of China is one of China's four largest banks, all of which have undergone gradual reform in recent years as the ruling Communist Party seeks to reduce the dependency of state industry on non-commercial lending.
ASEAN includes Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
"The ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) market is of special significance in the process," Wang said in a speech at a China-ASEAN business conference in the southern city of Nanning.
He said Chinese banks could enter ASEAN markets by providing financial services to support infrastructure construction.
The Bank of China is the only Chinese bank operating in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore, Wang said.
But ASEAN-based banks have 36 branches in China, he said.
Most other Chinese banks had not yet devised detailed plans for exploring ASEAN markets, Wang said.
China is opening its banking sector to international competition under the World Trade Organisation rules framework, but most ASEAN nations are behind China in opening to foreign banks, he said.
The agency quoted commerce ministry spokesman Yao Shenhong as saying China and ASEAN hoped to conclude agreements next year to allow Chinese banks easier access to ASEAN markets.
The two sides are committed to opening up their banking sectors under the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area agreement on trade in services, signed in January.
The Bank of China is one of China's four largest banks, all of which have undergone gradual reform in recent years as the ruling Communist Party seeks to reduce the dependency of state industry on non-commercial lending.
ASEAN includes Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
3 comments:
This is great news, indeed. I read somewhere that when banks compete people win!
Shut Up!
China will take over the world economy...and super power!!
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