Bank of China unit becomes 25th lender registered in NZ

Bank of China unit becomes 25th lender registered in NZ

Nov. 18 (BusinessDesk) - BOC (New Zealand), a unit of state-owned Bank of China, has become the 25th lender to be granted a licence by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

Bank of China's clients include COSCO, Bright Dairy, Huawei and Haier Group, which all do business in New Zealand, and counts former finance minister Ruth Richardson as a director. Former National Party minister Chris Tremain is chairman of the local unit.

The Reserve Bank said BOC will change its name to Bank of China (New Zealand) following registration, which is effective Nov. 21. It will be the third of the major Chinese banks to gain a New Zealand licence after China Construction Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

“Bank of China is particularly strong in its agritech business and given that a third of all New Zealand’s exports to China are dairy products, this bodes very well," Tremain said in a statement. “The Bank of China sees this as the ideal time to launch their New Zealand business, contributing towards the combined trade of both New Zealand and China to an expected $30 billion per annum by 2020."

Bank of China was ranked seventh by Tier 1 capital in a 2014 survey by the Financial Times's The Banker magazine, the lender said.

(BusinessDesk)

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