Is the main reason for the Bank of China winning the top nominations for Preferred Bank for Foreign Exchange and Preferred Bank for Trade Finance due to an inherent historical advantage? After all, it used to have a monopoly on these services. All of that is changing now.
In the first quarter of the year, profits from the Bank of China's foreign exchange business amounted to 61% of its total profits, highlighting the importance of this market to the bank. The domestic bank with the largest international network of branches, the Bank of China has been creating new services and products. Recently, it launched a comprehensive financial management system to meet the growing needs of its domestic individual banking customers and new wealth management services for its individual foreign exchange customers. “The uptake for our new foreign currency wealth management services has been very strong,” says a bank spokesman, “demonstrating our confidence in the growth potential of this market.”
According to the Bank of China's 2003 annual report, corporate foreign exchange deposits reached US$115.6 billion, of which US$48.2 billion came from within China, giving it a 57% market share. Corporate foreign exchange retail loans amounted to US$16.6 billion, and the Bank of China was the leading bank for international settlements domestically.
