ICBC to Set up Branch in Macao

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, March 14, 2003

ICBC to Set up Branch in Macao

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The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), one of the "big four" commercial banks in China, will set up a branch in Macao to tap the growing financial market in the Special Administrative Region (SAR).

The application has been approved by the People's Bank of China, the central bank, bank sources were quoted by Friday's Macao Daily News as saying. ICBC will bring banks in Macao to 23 in number.

Macao has become a modern and open financial hub "with regional characteristics" and will offer more opportunities for development of branches of non-local banking enterprises with the globalization of the city's financial business, the paper noted.

Economic links between Macao and China's interior have been cemented since Macao returned to the motherland more than three years ago. The ICBC expects its new branch to promote economic andtrade cooperation not only between the SAR and the inland, but also between China and the European Union as well as Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa.

However, industry insiders have pointed out that the ICBC entry will increase market competition though the financial market still has certain space for development amid the sustained economic recovery of the SAR, which, propelled by the liberalization of the gaming industry, is foreseen to continue, if not accelerate.

Talent shortage in local market will be another worry. Some Macao-based banks have said that the possible flow of their professionals to the ICBC will hamper their business.

Macao Daily News reported that the ICBC has yet to set a timetable for its operation in Macao.

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