Deutsche Bank begins operations in China

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Deutsche Bank begins operations in China

Germany’s largest lender, Deutsche Bank, began operating in China today, working through a local unit in Beijing.

The Chinese market has $2.3 trillion in household savings, and as such the move represents a strong step for the German bank into a lucrative marketplace.

The CEO of Deutsche Bank Asia Pacific, Colin Grassie, has stated the firm’s goal is to participate as much as possible in the Chinese financial services sector, adding that local incorporation would assit them in reaching their target.

A number of major foreign banks have begun to operate in China, and Citigroup Inc, HSBC Holdings Plc, Standard Chartered and Hong Kong’s Bank of East Asia have all chosen to incorporate locally.

Chinese regulators are keen for overseas firms to go down this road, and failure to do so leads to a range of limitations, including the inability to issue credit cards, or take more than 1 million yuan from retail clients.

The move allows Deutsche Bank to operate in areas it would otherwise be unable to touch, such as foreign exchange, yuan deposits and lending and bond trading.

Shanghai will keep the firm’s wholesale foreign exchange branch, but its branches will all be placed under the locally incorporated unit.