2010-12-14 10:50

SYDNEY - The Australian Branch of the Bank of China (BOC) has made every effort to provide service to the Chinese enterprises which invest in Australia, said a senior BOC banker on Monday.

Wu Shiqiang, BOC's General Manager and Country Head in Australia, told Xinhua that the Australian Branch's profit so far this year has reached nearly $50 million, doubling that of last year.

In illustrating BOC's success in Australia, Wu said the backbone of the bank's sharpened competitive edge in Australia is to grasp the opportunities presented by the "going abroad" strategy, in which Chinese companies are encouraged to invest in other countries.

Statistics showed that over 190 direct investments from China were approved by Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB),from November 2007 to September 2010, making Australia one of the most favorable investing destinations for Chinese businesses. Over the past three years, Chinese companies contributed A$60 billion of investment to the nation.

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According to Wu, those Chinese enterprises which invest abroad have given Chinese banks new opportunities to expand business. He took BOC's operations in Australia for example, saying that currently 73 percent of loan went to Chinese investors in Australia, with 59 percent of profits generated from the same sources.

Wu said technically the Australian Branch of BOC targeted potential customers among Chinese companies with overseas ambitions and their local partners in Australia, and tried to provide first-class services to them by integrating Chinese elements and competitive products. Wu also made intensive efforts in developing corporate deals and whole sales services, emphasizing on funding security.

Citing China's Yanzhou Coal Mining Corporation as an example, he said Yanzhou successfully took over Felix Resources in Australia last year. In such a case, BOC managed to collect a loan of $2.9 billion and an additional $140-million supporting facility among others for Yanzhou Coal's merging ambition, in an effective and timely manner.

In spite of the achievements, the Australian Branch of BOC has expanded its business vigorously. For example, BOC increased its branches from four to eight across Australia over the past five years and member staff rose to more than 200 this year from 130 five years ago.