Business

Monday November 23, 2009

Chinese bank wants to play active role in Malaysia


KUALA LUMPUR: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), one of the world’s largest banks in terms of market value and profitability, describes the proposed opening of a subsidiary bank in Malaysia as a significant breakthrough in ICBC’s globalisation strategy.

“It is also a reflection of the fast expanding trade, economic and commercial ties between China and Malaysia,” it said in a statement yesterday.

ICBC was granted the banking licence by Bank Negara on Nov 20. Previously, its application had been approved by the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

“After its establishment, ICBC’s subsidiary bank in Malaysia will vigorously integrate itself into the local financial market and play an active role in servicing bilateral economic exchanges and trade as well as boosting Malaysia’s economic development through leveraging on ICBC group’s extensive customer base, capital strength, network and state-of-the-art technology,” it said.

It said Malaysia was one of China’s most important trading partners in Asean, with bilateral trade standing at US$53.469bil in 2008, representing about one quarter of total trade volume between China and the Asean countries.

In August 2009, two-way trade reached RM11.56bil, making China the biggest export market for Malaysian products. In the same period, Chinese exports to Malaysia accounted for more than 13% of Malaysia total imports, making China the biggest source of imports for Malaysia.

“The ever-increasing economic, trade and investment ties between China and Malaysia have laid a solid foundation for the development of the financial service industry and raised new demands for cross-border banking services,” it said.

“Amid the ongoing global economic and financial integration and with the huge demand from ‘go-out’ Chinese enterprises for cross-border financial services, ICBC has been proactively implementing its globalisation strategy. It is accelerating overseas deployment and expanding business scopes in order to enhance its cross-border financial service capabilities,” it said.

As at the end-September, ICBC has 155 branches and offices in 15 countries and regions and 1,393 correspondent banks in 125 countries and regions.

At the end of the third quarter of 2009, ICBC had total assets of 11.67 trillion yuan (RM5.75 trillion) and recorded after-tax profit of 100.54 billion yuan (RM49.57bil).

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