Bank of Communications Co., Ltd. history, profile and history video
Bank of Communications Co., Ltd. engages in the provision of banking and related financial services. The company’s business scope includes commercial banking, securities services, trust services, financial leasing, fund management, insurance, and offshore financial services. It operates its business through four business segments: Corporate Banking, Retail Banking, Treasury, and Other. The Corporate Banking business segment includes corporate loans, bills, trade finance, corporate deposits, and remittances. The Retail Banking business segment consists of retail loans, retail deposits, credit cards, and remittances. The Treasury business segment provides services, such as money market placements and takings, investment in securities, and selling securities subject to linked repurchase agreements. The Other business segment comprises items that cannot be categorized in all other segments. The company also operates through various geographical segments: Northern China, North-Eastern China, Eastern China, Central & Southern China, and Western China. Bank of Communications was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Shanghai, China.“
“Bank of Communications History
Before 1949
The Bank of Communication was founded in 1908 and emerged as one of the first few major national and note-issuing banks in the early days of the Republic of China. It was chartered as “the Bank for developing the country’s industries”. In order to expand the business into the overseas arena, the Bank opened its first Hong Kong Branch on 27 November 1934.
After 1949
Republic of China
After the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949, the Bank of Communication, like the Bank of China, was effectively split into two operations, part of it relocating to Taiwan with the Kuomintang government. In Taiwan, the bank is also known as Bank of Transportation (交通銀行, Chiao Tung Bank). It eventually merged with the International Commercial Bank of China (中國國際商業銀行), the renamed Bank of China in Taiwan after its 1971 privatization to become the Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐國際商業銀行).
People’s Republic of China
The mainland operation is the current Bank of Communication.
Following the State Council’s decision to restructure the Bank in 1986, the Bank was then restructured and re-commenced operations on 1 April 1987. Since then, its Head Office has been relocated from Beijing to Shanghai.
Today
Today, the Bank of Communication is amongst the top 5 leading commercial banks in China and has an extensive network of over 2,800 branches covering over 80 major cities. Apart from Hong Kong, the Bank has also established overseas branches in New York, Tokyo, Singapore and representative offices in London and Frankfurt. As of end-2002, the Bank had over 88,000 employees and a total asset reaching RMB 5.15 trillion.
Bank of Communication currently possesses 128 domestic organs including 30 provincial branches, 7 directly-managed branches, 90 sub-branches managed by the provincial branches with 2,643 network organs in over 220 large- and medium-sized cities. In addition, it has established 12 overseas organs including branch banks in Hong Kong, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, Frankfurt, Macau, Sydney, and Ho Chi Minh City, BOCOMUK in London, and representative office in Taipei. According to the ranking announced by the British journal “The Banker” concerning 1,000 worldwide banks in 2011, Bank of Communication ranked 35th for its tier l capital, entering the world’s top 50 banks for two consecutive years. Among the World’s Top 500 Enterprises listed by Fortune in 2011, the Bank of Communication ranked 397th., up by 43 as compared with 2010 and entering the World’s Top 500 Enterprises for three straight years. Bank of Communication is one of the major financial service suppliers in China with its business scope covering commercial banking, securities, trust, financial leasing, fund management, insurance, offshore financial services, etc.
Events in 2005
As of January 2005, 19.9% of the bank is owned by HSBC. An HSBC spokeswoman said HSBC Holdings Plc and its 19.9% held Bank of Communication (BoComms) affiliate, would seek to acquire a brokerage to expand their operations in China. The plan was part of HSBC’s broader China expansion strategy, but “there is nothing further to disclose at the present.” HSBC’s operations in China include its own banking operations, its stake in BoCom and an 8% stake in Bank of Shanghai. HSBC also holds a 19.9% stake in Ping An Insurance(Group) Co of China through its wholly-owned subsidiary HSBC Insurance Holdings. The South China Morning Post today cited Peter Wong Tung-shun, executive director at The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, as saying that the acquisition is being considered in the light of the Chinese government’s reforms of the country’s securities brokerages. This includes a provision allowing foreign companies to get management control of brokerage firms. Wong did not provide a timetable for any acquisition or identify any acquisition target. The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp is a wholly-owned HSBC subsidiary.”
*Information from Forbes.com, Wikipedia.org, and www.bankcomm.com
**Video published on YouTube by “ICMIVideo“