Bank to speed up expansion on mainland

Hong Kong-based and listed Chong Hing Bank plans to speed up its expansion on the Chinese mainland, after being acquired by Hong Kong-registered Yuexiu Group, the largest State-owned group in Guangzhou by assets.

Yuexiu Group announced on Monday it completed the acquisition of a 75 percent stake in Chong Hing Bank for HK$11.64 billion ($1.5 billion) on Friday. The deal marks the first time a Hong Kong bank has been acquired by an entity outside the financial industry in 27 years, since the China Merchants Group conglomerate bought the Union Bank of Hong Kong in 1986.

The deal took place amid favorable conditions in which Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, is aiming to become a regional financial center and Hong Kong is aiming to become an offshore renminbi financial center, said Margaret Leung Ko May-yee, deputy chairwoman and managing director of the bank.

People, trade and financial exchanges between Guangdong and Hong Kong have become increasingly close and the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) between Hong Kong and the mainland helps business expansion in Guangdong, she said.

National-level new development areas, such as Nansha New Area in Guangzhou, will create new opportunities.

The "go global" strategy for renminbi has been an important part in the national strategy and renminbi deposits in Hong Kong grew by 43 percent year-on-year to 1.009 trillion yuan at the end of last year.

While maintaining steady growth of the bank in Hong Kong, Yuexiu Group will leverage its rich resources in Guangdong and Hong Kong to turn the bank into an international bank based in Guangzhou and Hong Kong, covering China and serving the Asia-Pacific.

The group will enhance the interaction among its main business sectors including real estate, transport and infrastructure and financial services to lift the bank's competitiveness and make it become a new profit growth point, said Zhang Zhaoxing, chairman of the bank.

Founded in 1948 and previously owned by Hong Kong's Liu family, Chong Hing Bank operates a network of 51 branches in Hong Kong, three branches in Shantou, Guangdong province, Macau and San Francisco, and two representative offices in Guangzhou and Shanghai.

It will study the possibility of upgrading its representative office in Guangzhou into a bank, banking on the CEPA, Leung Ko May-yee said.

It also intends to set up more branches in the rest of the country and in Asia-Pacific in the longer term.

It will focus on small and medium-sized enterprise services, cross-border renminbi business and wealth management, and actively develop e-banking services.

The non-performing loan ratio of the bank is one of the lowest and its capital adequacy ratio is one of the highest in Hong Kong, Zhang said.

The acquisition of the bank is a key step in Yuexiu Group's goal of becoming an international financial holding group focusing on banking and securities, Zhang said.

In January, Yuexiu Securities Holdings of Yuexiu Group became the major shareholder of Hong Kong-based Grand China Futures.