Bank of China Limited (BOC) has announced that it will establish a wholly-owned subsidiary in the SAR – Bank of China (Macau) Limited – with a total of MOP13 billion (US$1.6 billion) in registered capital and a focus on supporting the development of the Greater Bay Area and advancing the local financial sector.
According to BOC, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and the Macau SAR Government have already granted permission for the establishment of the bank, however, further approvals from relevant regulatory authorities are still needed.
The group’s Board of Directors had already authorised the establishment of the subsidiary in June, 2019 but since there were ‘uncertainties’ concerning the total capital investment upon due consideration, the bank decided to suspend the disclosure of the investment and completed the internal registration and approval procedures.
The Bank of China Macau Branch, formerly known as “Macau Namtong Bank”, was established by businessman Zhuang Shiping in June 1950 and formally renamed as the Bank of China Macau Branch on New Year’s Day in 1987, becoming the ninth overseas branch of BOC at that time.
The BOC Macau Branch holds a full banking license and provides corporation banking, personal banking and related financial services in the SAR, and is BOC’s largest overseas branch.
BOC indicated it will hold 100 per cent of the new incorporated bank in Macau, with its business scope to cover the personal banking business and local SME business.
The Bank of China (Macau) Limited subsidiary will set up its corporate governance structure in accordance with the requirements of relevant regulatory authorities in the Chinese mainland and in Macau China and will be managed as a tier-1 subsidiary of Bank of China.
‘The investment is an important step for the Bank to serve the needs of state strategies, to support the development for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, to meet the financial needs of the Macau SAR Government to develop featured finance,’ BOC indicated.
Bank of China (Macau) Limited will also work with Bank of China Macau Branch to produce a synergy to construct a ‘comprehensive service system’ that targets the Macau government, large domestic and foreign companies, local residents and SMEs, and covers services and products in many fields as diverse as commercial banking, asset management, insurance, fund, investment, and trust.
‘With joint efforts, they will make the business of the Bank growing larger and stronger in Macau,’ BOC highlighted.
At the end of 2020, BOC Macau Branch had 36 sub-branches with total assets of over MOP790 billion, and over 40 per cent of the local market share in mainstream businesses such as savings and loans.
BOC Macau also employed more than 1,800 employees, which is approximately 30 percent of the total number of employees in Macau’s banking industry.
The branch has also been extending its mobile banking operations, optimising and adding new functions to its mobile banking app, including UnionPay quickPass, cross-border wealth management, ‘BOC PAY’ online payment support, inter-bank transfer, transfer product sharing, registration and new accounts.
In 2020, the number of mobile banking transactions within the bank’s system was said to have increased by 150 per cent over the same period for the previous year, with the number of customers served by smart counter reached nearly 50,000, the transaction volume reached nearly 100,000.
BOC has also advanced with special purpose loans for SMEs to combat the pandemic, mortgage repayment rearrangement plans and advancing collaborations with national institutions to promote inter-regional connectivity and convenience for Macau residents to use mobile payments and property investment in the mainland.
Last year, BOC Macau also became the first financial institution to issue bonds within the SAR, issuing RMB3 billion (MOP3.5 billion/US$443.13 million) in ‘blue bonds’, one year after it helped coordinate the issuance of RMB2 billion in state-backed bonds in the city.
As part of efforts to develop the Greater Bay Area into one of the world’s largest economic regions and increase Macau and Hong Kong integration in the region, Chinese authorities have announced a slew of policies aimed at developing Macau into a financial centre in recent years.