Official ceremony in Palace Serbia marked the beginning of business in Serbia to one of the world’s biggest financial institutions – Bank of China. Bank’s launch in Serbia represents extension of cooperation between Serbia and China and further improvement of two countries’ relations, following the visit of Chinese president, Mr. Xi Jinping, to Serbia last year.
President Tomislav Nikolić of the Republic of Serbia, Chairman Tian Guoli of the Bank, Serbia Minister of Finance Mr. Dušan Vujović, Chinese ambassador to Serbia Mr. Li Manchang attended the ceremony and delivered keynote speeches and then visited the premises of Bank of China Serbia.
Chairman Tian indicated that the official launch of Bank of China Serbia in Belgrade represents an important step taken by the Bank to satisfy the growing demand of economic cooperation between Serbia and China, and thus Bank of China will make further contribution to China’s “Belt and Road“ Initiative through its financial services.
China and the Serbia Republic have great potentials for extending mutual cooperation into infrastructure development and manufacturing sectors, as well as collaboration in services such as tourism and finance, highlighting the two-way investments between both countries. As of December 2015, the bilateral trade between Serbia-China reached US$ 1.56 billion. As of November 2016, the bilateral trade reached US$ 1.48 billion.
Bank of China was formally established in February 1912, as China’s most international and diversified bank, the Bank provides a comprehensive range of financial services to customers across the Chinese mainland as well as 51 countries and regions, covering 20 countries along the Belt and Road. The Bank’s tier 1 capital base became the fourth largest among the world top 1000 banks by the Banker in 2015. The Bank also ranked No.4 in “Forbes Global 2000” in terms of assets, market value and other indicators. On top of that, the Bank was the only Chinese enterprise enrolled in “Fortune Global 500” for 27 consecutive years with 14 places upgrade from 2014.
Bank of China London Branch was established in 1929 as the first overseas financial institution formed by any Chinese bank. It started on the track of internationalized operations. In June 2006 Bank of China launched its initial public offerings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In July 2006, Bank of China also went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and thus became the first commercial bank listed on both A- and H-Share market. Bank of China was the sole banking partner of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. In 2011, the Bank became the only financial institution from emerging economies being enrolled as a Global Systemically Important Financial Institution and has been enrolled for five consecutive years by now. The year 2012 marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bank. Today, Bank of China is ranked 4th by tier-1 capital among “Top 1000 World Banks”.
During the past 5 years, the bank continuously increased its financial performance. At the end of 2015, the total assets reached 2590 billion USD, the deposits reached 1800 billion USD, the loans reached 1400 billion USD, the profit reached 27.6 billion USD, and the ROA reached 1.12%. As a large global commercial bank, Bank of China always takes a leading position in the RMB internationalization business and devotes itself to the expansion of such business.
In 2003 Bank of China Hungary is opened as the first financial institution established by any Chinese bank in CEE. In December 2014, Bank of China Limited Hungarian Branch was founded. In August 2015, Prague Branch was founded. In March 2016, Vienna Branch was newly established. The bank has entered into business relationship with many blue-chip corporates in the strategic sectors in CEE region. To provide funding for China’s “One Belt One Road” development strategy, € 500M bond is issued by Bank of China In 2015 June. In the same month, Bank of China was designated by PBOC as the clearing bank for RMB business in Hungary. It is the first RMB clearing bank in CEE region, and the 16th in the world.
Bank of China proceeds the expansion of business and the establishment of new branches in Serbia. A lot of thanks to the tremendous help and support from all our friends, Bank of China Serbia could be established after a short preparation period. The newly founded Bank of China Serbia shall contribute further to the bilateral economic cooperation between Serbia and China.