Intesa Sanpaolo's long march to Shandong

That Intesa Sanpaolo was able to set up a wholly foreign-owned venture is a reflection of the bank's long relationship with China.

The bank first arrived in China in 1981, when it became the first Italian credit institution to establish a presence in the country by setting up an office in Beijing to assist Italian companies investing in China and Chinese companies moving into the Italian market.

In 2006, Intesa Sanpaolo expanded this role by partnering with China Investment Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China in the Mandarin Fund, a private equity fund set up to support businesses expanding in the Chinese and Italian markets.

Intesa Sanpaolo's China operations have also grown into other areas over the years. The bank now runs branches in Shanghai and Honk Kong, and it also owns a large stake in Penghua Fund Management, as well as its smaller shareholding in the Bank of Qingdao.

The bank also takes an active role in a wide range of other business and cultural initiatives, as well as numerous organizations that promote cultural, commercial, technological and scientific exchanges between Italy and China.

The bank is active in the Italian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and is a founding member of both the Centre of Advanced Studies on Contemporary China and the Italy China Foundation.

However, it was the bank's 2007 decision to invest in the Bank of Qingdao that really paved the way for the establishment of Yicai Wealth Management.

Its decision to invest in the Bank of Qingdao was based on its assessment of the city and the region in the context of China's development, the bank's potential and the quality of its management and shareholders.

Since the initial investment, Intesa Sanpaolo has been a stable strategic partner to the Bank of Qingdao and has cooperated closely with it to support the bank's development.

Intesa Sanpaolo's efforts have been repaid through the strong results delivered by the Bank of Qingdao during the last few years, and the Italian bank has developed fruitful relationships with all its Chinese stakeholders.

The experience cooperating with the Bank of Qingdao also helped Intesa build up a good knowledge of the local market and a good relationship with the local authorities, which gave the group a crucial advantage when registering Yicai.

Edited by Dominic Morgan 

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