Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) O39 has opened a new branch in Wuhan in central China on March 21. The branch is opened under OCBC’s wholly-owned China banking subsidiary, OCBC Wing Hang Bank (China).
Wuhan, which is the capital of Hubei province, is one of the country’s largest transport, industrial and manufacturing hubs. The launch of the branch will support the bank’s ambitions to capture the growing trade and investment flows between Greater China and Asean. The branch will focus on supporting enterprises in the communication and technology, new energy, logistics, and real estate sectors with a suite of services including corporate financing, cash management, international settlement, investment and wealth management and cross-border trade settlement in renminbi (RMB).
The new branch is OCBC Wing Hang China’s 19th branch. The bank has a presence in 14 Chinese cities.
Hubei province maintained its leading position in China’s regional gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022 among large economic provinces with a GDP exceeding RMB5 trillion ($973.09 billion). The province also recorded 34.9% growth in imports and exports with Asean in 2022.
In addition, the recent China-Asean free trade agreement (FTA) 3.0 negotiations will pave the way for future economic and trade development between Hubei province and the Greater China region with Asean, says OCBC.
Helen Wong, the group CEO of OCBC Bank; Wang Ke, CEO of OCBC Wing Hang Bank China; Ye Jing, the general manager of the Wuhan branch of OCBC Wing Hang China officially opened the branch with Chen Ping, the vice governor of Hubei province; Duan Yindi, the director general of the Hubei Provincial Bureau of Local Financial Regulation and Supervision; and Yang Ze Fa, the vice mayor of Wuhan.
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"The establishment of the Wuhan branch is a milestone for OCBC Group in Greater China. Given its strategic location, this branch will serve as our headquarters for Hubei province and the Central China region. It is therefore a key addition to our Greater China network which covers the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Greater Bay Area,” says OCBC’s Wong.
“This strengthened network enhances our ability to capture Asean-Greater China trade and investment flows. We will provide differentiated banking services to our customers by leveraging our twin hubs of Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as our presence in Southeast Asia, while working together with local Chinese banks and foreign banks,” she adds. “Our strengths will allow us to support foreign enterprises who want to invest and conduct business here, while at the same time, helping local Chinese enterprises expand into Asean.”
In line with OCBC’s sustainability goals, high environmental standards were adopted during the construction of the Wuhan branch, which has been awarded the Carbon Neutral
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Certificate by the China Quality Certification Center and the Energy and Environmental Design Gold Level certificate (LEED Gold Certification) issued by the US Green Building Council.
As at 4.35pm, shares in OCBC are trading 9 cents higher or 0.75% up at $12.17.
