China Construction Bank brings HK branch into subsidiary

The China Construction Bank Corp, China's second-largest bank, announced on Thursday the integration of its Hong Kong branch into its subsidiary China Construction Bank (Asia).

Members of staff and clients of the Hong Kong branch will be transferred to CCB (Asia) in early July, while the branch will continue as an asset management center, it said.

The branch previously specialized in corporate banking while CCB (Asia), a subsidiary formed after CCB acquired Hong Kong's Bank of America (Asia), provides retail and commercial banking business.

Wang Hongzhang, chairman of the bank, said at the opening ceremony that the integration in Hong Kong marks a "milestone" of CCB's internalization, and would promote the efficiency of its overseas businesses.

"Hong Kong contributed 70 percent of the overseas profits to the group," he said.

According to Wang, CCB will establish eight more overseas branches this year to extend its footprint worldwide.