OCBC (China) to commence business

Shanghai-incorporated OCBC Bank (China) officially kicked off its domestic operations yesterday, targeting at small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) and wealth management for retail customers in the mainland.

A wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore-based OCBC Bank, OCBC (China) Ltd. intends to expand its branch presence to the Greater Shanghai, Pearl River Delta and Sichuan regions besides its planned branches in Guangzhou, Chengdu, Tianjin, Xiamen and Beijing. In line with its expansion plan, the bank will also recruit up to 1,000 employees in China by 2010.

Following DBS Bank, OCBC is the second Singapore bank to get the approval from the Chinese banking regulator to operate a locally incorporated bank. With the domestic incorporation status, the Chinese subsidiary are allowed to launch a full range of RMB services, including loans, deposits, trade finance, treasury and capital market services for domestic and foreign companies in China, and mortgages, wealth management services and investment products for retail customer.

The bank is also considering the launch of bank cards, including credit cards and debits cards, said Eric Low, head of China wealth management for OCBC.

The first Singapore lender to buy shares in a Chinese bank, OCBC is also a share-holder of the newly listed Ningbo Bank, holding approximately 10% stake in the Zhejiang-based lender.

OCBC (China) has a registered capital of RMB 3.5 billion.