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Licence granted to Chinese bank
A Government spokesman said today (Friday) that the People's Construction Bank of China (PCBC) had been granted a banking licence to conduct business in Hong Kong.
PCBC, one of the four specialised banks in China, is the third largest bank in China after the Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in terms of assets. It ranked 44th in the world in terms of assets and 70th in terms of capital in 1994.
It operates more than 4,850 branches and sub-branches throughout China and has over 310,000 employees.
PCBC has established a representative office in Hong Kong since July 1993. It wishes to upgrade its representative office to a branch and develop it into its regional centre for South East Asia. The spokesman said the licence of PCBC was the sixth banking licence granted this year.
He added that the establishment of major Chinese banks in Hong Kong and vice versa would help boost the economy of both sides and maintain Hong Kong's status as an international financial centre.
Before the grant of the PCBC licence, there were 183 licensed banks in Hong Kong, of which 152 were incorporated outside the territory.
End/Friday, October 6, 1995
Head of Trade to lead HK delegation to Tokyo APEC meeting
The Director-General of Trade, Mr Tony Miller, will be leading a Hong Kong delegation to the Third Senior Officials Meeting for the seventh Ministerial Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) scheduled for October 9 to 13 in Tokyo, Japan.
According to a Trade Department spokesman, this meeting will be the last senior officials meeting this year before APEC economic leaders meet in Osaka in mid-November.