Citigroup, HSBC and others mark new entry into China banking

US-based Citigroup and Britain's HSBC were among a group of banks that incorporated in China to provide retail loans to locals in a bid to ramp up their presence in the key Asian market.
They officially began a more extended range of yuan-denominated services in Shanghai, as part of new regulations that have opened the Chinese banking market to foreign competition.
Altogether four foreign banks won regulatory approval last week to incorporate locally in China, allowing them access to China's two trillion dollars of household savings.
Britain's Standard Chartered and Hong Kong's Bank of East Asia also initiated local operations on April 02. Beijing agreed to open up the tightly held industry when it became a World Trade Organisation membership in 2001. The regulations require foreign lenders to set up locally incorporated banks to handle yuan currency transactions.
"Citi's local incorporation in China is without a doubt one of the most significant developments in our long history in this vital market," said Richard Stanley, chairman of Citibank China.
Citibank China, with a registered capital of four billion yuan (516 million dollars), said it expected to launch yuan services including deposits, mortgage loans and debit cards to Chinese residents in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, HSBC plans to set up 30 new outlets this year and increase staff by 1,000, with another 1,000 due next year, Richard Yorke, president and CEO of HSBC Bank China said at a media conference in Shanghai.
The bank has registered capital of eight billion yuan, which is sufficient to meet regulations that will allow it to conduct futures business, Yorke said.
Meanwhile, the Bank of East Asia said it plans to increase outlets in China to 100 by 2010 from 27 currently, according to Chan Kay-cheung, vice chairman of the Bank of East Asia China.
Chan said the transfer of existing operations to China will enable it to serve a growing customer base here more effectively. It expects net profit in China to contribute 35 percent of the bank's total by 2010, compared with 15 percent last year.
Katherine Tsang, CEO of Standard Chartered's China operations, said the lender plans to increase the number of outlets to 40 by the end of the year from 20.