denotes premium content | Sep 3 2010 
News
posted 26 Jun 2009 in Volume 12 Issue 8
People & places
China Construction Bank opens for trade in London and New York
China Construction Bank Corporation (CCB) has launched a wholly owned subsidiary in the City of London in the same month that it officially opened its first US branch in New York.
The twin openings are part of the Bank’s strategy to provide Chinese exporters with global services in all of the world’s main financial centres. The London branch will provide a range of services, including the range of trade finance and commodity finance products, as well as taking corporate deposits and providing sterling clearing services.
The purpose of the UK office is to support Sino-UK trade – China is the UK’s third largest import partner, responsible for $60bn in imports in 2008 – as well as the multinational companies and financial institutions that use banking services in London.
The opening of the subsidiary and its offices was attended by 200 people, including CCB Chairman Guo Shuqing. The New York branch, meanwhile, is CCB’s first branch in North America and, like the UK subsidiary is intended to support multinational corporations and financial institutions, as well as Chinese corporates exporting to the US.
China Construction Bank, the world’s second largest bank by market value, gained approval from the US Federal Reserve to set-up in New York in December 2008. The New York branch is China Construction Bank’s seventh overseas branch. The bank is one of the biggest lenders in China in the construction industry – predictably enough, given its name – and also in personal residential mortgages. It has total assets of approximately $1.3 trillion.
