Learn mandarin - Hang Seng Bank plans mainland expansion

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Hang Seng Bank plans mainland expansion
(Shenzhen Daily)
Updated: 2006-06-06 10:05

Hang Seng Bank, a Hong Kong unit of HSBC Holdings Plc., said it plans to
invest over HK$1 billion (US$129 million) over the next three years to
expand on the mainland.

The investment will be used to set up new outlets and for training,
bringing the number of branches to more than 30, Johnson Fu, head of the
bank's mainland division, said at the opening of a sub-branch in Shanghai.

Currently the bank has 13 outlets on the mainland, including the newly
opened sub-branch, according to Fu. Hang Seng has also received
regulatory approval to open a new sub-branch in Shanghai and will upgrade
a representative office in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, to a branch.

The bank plans to increase its payroll on the mainland from 400 staff to
more than 600 by the end of this year, Fu said.

He added the bank has no intention to take a stake in another mainland
lender or to set up a credit card joint venture with its mainland partner
for now.

"We are quite satisfied with the status quo of our cooperation with
Industrial Bank," he said.

Hang Seng Bank and International Finance Corp., the investment arm of the
World Bank, bought stakes of 15.98 percent and 4 percent in the mainland
bank in late 2003.

Hang Seng and Industrial Bank have since been cooperating in areas such
as consumer banking and internal auditing.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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