China Business Blog - Aggregated China Business Blogs
Aggregated China Business Blogs
OCBC seeks mainland fund distribution license
Aggregated Source: Shanghai Daily: Business

OVERSEA-CHINESE Banking Corp (OCBC), Southeast Asia's second-biggest lender, plans to submit an application for a domestic fund distribution license on China's mainland next week.

This would help Singapore-based OCBC boost income from its retail banking business.

OCBC will be the sixth overseas bank to make such application, after Standard Chartered Bank, Citigroup, United Overseas Bank, Bank of East Asia and Hang Seng Bank.

These banks are seeking to tap into the booming business on China's mainland that was worth 645 billion yuan (US$102.8 billion) last year.

At the moment, only Chinese lenders are allowed to sell units in domestic mutual funds at their branches.

Analysts said the overseas banks could challenge the dominant position of Chinese lenders by bringing new customer groups and different management practices in the long-term.

Overseas lenders have a relatively small network compared to Chinese lenders, limiting the growth of their retail banking business.

Total assets of overseas lenders on China's mainland accounted for less than 2 percent of the Chinese banking industry.

OCBC said its revenue from the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors program, a scheme that gives mainland investors access to overseas capital market, grew by 350 percent in 2012 from a year earlier, while profits soared by 530 percent.

Original URL: Click here to visit original article
Copyright Shanghai Daily: Business