High End Customers + Village Bank &Nbsp; Foreign Banks Have Their Own Way Of Expansion.

From crying wolf to silent latent.

Rapid expansion

In September 21st, the ANZ bank formally announced that it was approved by the CBRC to set up a local registered legal person bank in China. The Bank of Australia and New Zealand (China) Limited will be formally established in October 1st. At the same time, it also announced its goal of rapidly expanding the network layout in at least 20 years in the next three years.

Establishment of legal person bank and rapid laying

"We will continue to increase business outlets in China, enrich our products and further improve customer service capabilities," Gilles Plant, chairman of Australia New China, said in an interview.

After the registration, Australia's new bank will take a more solid path in China's development and will work closely with our strategic partners in Shanghai and Tianjin to seek wider opportunities for cooperation.

From the very beginning, it was considered too cumbersome for the establishment of a legal person organization. Now that it has actively communicated with the regulatory authorities, the establishment of a corporate bank with a high profile has entered into China's foreign banks for many years, and they have become well versed in the pattern of the Chinese market, and have to do as the Romans do as the Romans do, and expand the layout of the network as soon as possible.

According to the first batch of foreign-funded banks established in 2007, HSBC has 102 outlets in China.

Standard Chartered Bank has 17 branches and more than 40 branches in the whole country. The Bank of East Asia has established a branch network in 22 large and medium-sized cities.

Despite the rapid expansion of the outlets, according to the CBRC statistics, the number of foreign banks in China increased from 188 in 2004 to 338 at the end of 2009, but accounted for the banking sector.

Li Quan, chief executive officer of Royal Bank of Scotland, told reporters that although the share declined, the overall development trend of foreign banks has never declined, and the annual growth rate is very obvious.

According to the CBRC statistics, from 582 billion 300 million in 2004 to 13492 billion in 2009, the assets of foreign banks did increase year by year.

However, compared with the rapid growth of Chinese banks, the pace of development of foreign banks is still slow. According to the data, the total size of the three types of institutional assets of large commercial banks, joint-stock commercial banks and small and medium-sized financial institutions in rural areas is increasing year by year, accounting for 50.9%, 15% and 11% of the assets of banking financial institutions respectively.

Although there is a slight disadvantage in product design, the service network and continuously improving service skills of Chinese banks are still hard to shake.

This also allows many foreign banks to reiterate their strategy, which is to develop high-end customers according to their inherent advantages.

The Royal Bank of Scotland, which was renamed in late July, announced that it would focus on wholesale banking and investment banking and gradually withdraw from China's retail and SME market.

HSBC relies on the advantages of its three sites on both sides of the Straits to focus on cross-border settlement for enterprises.

Australia's New Zealand Bank relies on investment immigration in Australia and New Zealand in recent years, and has launched a dedicated account service for high-end customers.

Another quick way to expand is equity participation. According to a survey, more than 3/4 of foreign banks have plans to merge in 3 years. Their targets are the remaining urban commercial banks, rural banks and financial mixed operations, which are the asset management and securities assets.

Analysts pointed out that equity participation has an incomparable advantage over the establishment. On the one hand, it will quickly enter the mature market and save costs. On the other hand, with the tide of listing, banks can get high risk free profits in a short time.

According to incomplete statistics, at present, the Bank of Australia has owned 19.9% of Shanghai Agricultural Bank of China and 20% of Tianjin bank, and HSBC shares 19% of Bank of communications and 8% of Shanghai bank.

Royal Bank of Scotland owns 19.99% of Suzhou trust, 16.68% of Galaxy futures, and a wholly owned leasing company with mainland legal person qualification.

Keen on "going to the countryside"

What is interesting is that foreign banks, which have always been attacking big cities and high-end customers, have also used the village banks as a secret weapon in the expansion plan.

HSBC was the first water test maker to set foot in a village bank.

In 2007, HSBC set up the first foreign-funded village bank in Suizhou, Hubei, to provide loan services to farmers and small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises. Then, the village banks were established in Chongqing, Beijing, Guangdong and other places, forming a rural financial service network covering the whole western, middle, East and North China.

Wang Dongsheng, chief executive of HSBC Asia Pacific, told the media that from the long term of ten years or twenty years, the present villages and towns may become a city.

This village bank may become a branch that we see now.

According to the reporter's understanding, the minimum capital requirement for the establishment of village banks is 3 million. Obtaining a licence with such capital investment and grabbing a territory for the future is also the reason for the expansion of foreign banks.

The development of the western region and the integration of urban and rural areas will greatly stimulate the development of rural financial market, and the choice of outlets in the next three years will not rule out going to the countryside again, the director of market development of Australia and new China told reporters.

"Village banks have always been neglected by Chinese banks because of their long returns and limited profitability. However, the problem of 900 million rural population's loans is urgent under the background of the state's encouragement of rural finance." the vice chairman of Beijing friendship Financial Consulting Co., Ltd.

By the end of last year, 148 of the village banks that had already opened up, foreign banks dominated most of them, 7 of which were initiated by CDB and few from five major banks.

Among other foreign banks, Citigroup, Standard Chartered, Bank of East Asia and Australia New Bank have opened village banks in China.

In the new rural financial market supported by the state, foreign banks have taken the lead.