Bank of China is the bank with the longest continuous operation among Chinese banks. Formally established in February 1912, the Bank served consecutively as the country’s central bank, international exchange bank and specialized international trade bank. After 1949, the Bank became responsible for managing China’s foreign exchange operations and offering international trade settlement, overseas fund transfer and other non-trade foreign exchange services. The Bank provides various financial services, and has developed into a large commercial bank delivering services in local and foreign currencies and featuring complete business varieties and financial strength. The Bank was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2006, becoming the first Chinese bank to launch an A-Share and H-Share initial public offering and achieve a dual listing in both markets. The Bank is the official banking partner of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics and the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, thus making it the only bank in China to serve two Olympic Games. In 2011, Bank of China became the first financial institution from an emerging economy to be designated as a Global Systemically Important Bank, a designation it has now maintained for 12 consecutive years. With its growing international status, competitiveness and comprehensive strengths, the Bank has marched forward into the ranks of the world’s large banks. In 2021, the Bank prepared the Group’s 14th Five-Year Plan, clarified its positioning and comparative advantages in the domestic economy and in the domestic and international economic flows, and focused on the development of the “Eight Priority Areas” of technology finance, green finance, inclusive finance, cross-border finance, consumer finance, wealth finance, supply chain finance and county-level finance. It moved faster in forming a strategic development landscape with its domestic commercial banking services as the business mainstay, its globalised operations and diversified business platforms as the two growth engines, and worked hard to write a new chapter of building a first-class global banking group.
Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited – Manila Branch
In the Philippines, Bank of China has a full commercial banking license and has been in operations since 2002. The Manila Branch’s mission is to be the bridge between Chinese and Philippine trade and investments through corporate banking, personal banking, and financial markets services, facilitating Chinese investments in key sectors of the fast-growing Philippine economy, investing in a Renminbi (RMB) transfer system to encourage the settlement of payments in RMB.
In 2020, the Philippines ranked first in RMB growth rate in Southeast Asia. In support of a growing local renminbi (RMB) market, Bank of China has been officially established as the RMB Clearing Bank of the Philippines. This follows the initial memorandum of understanding signed by the People’s Bank of China and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in 2019. As the designated clearing bank for RMB business in the Philippines, Bank of China Manila can process the settlement of accounts and other core RMB services such as remittance, foreign exchange, liquidity support, and banknotes for local participating banks. It can also provide local market participants with access to mainland China’s CNY onshore rates as an alternative to the more accessible offshore CNH rate. CNY is the RMB rate that can only be traded on-shore (in mainland China) or through Clearing Banks appointed by the PBOC internationally. By making it easier to trade with counterparties in mainland China, Bank of China Manila can help improve the economic and trade partnership to promote development between the Philippines and China.
Bank of China provides matchmaking services to Philippine corporates and Chinese suppliers, which are clients of the Bank across more than 11,000 branches in China. We have brought our clients from China to invest in the Philippines and to partner with local firms as contractors and as providers of advanced technology.
Moving forward, Bank of China aims to facilitate more Chinese investments in important sectors of the Philippine economy. Bank of China continues to work closely with Philippine and Chinese corporations to establish strong partnerships and make trade and investment between the two nations more efficient through the use of RMB as a settlement currency, for the inclusive growth of both countries.
