The state-owned Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank or ABC), one of the nation’s “Big Four” banks as well as one of the largest banks in the world, opened a branch in Macau Wednesday.
The local branch is located at FIT in Avenida Doutor Mario Soares.
The “Big Four” state-owned commercial banks are the Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China (BOC), China Construction Bank (CCB), and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).
“We value the Macau market a lot, and we have been paying a great deal of attention to Macau’s future economic and social development…we are very confident [about the opening of the branch in the city],” Guo said, adding she aimed to utilise Macau’s advantages in the Greater Bay Area (GBA).
She noted that her bank applied to the local government to open its local branch in July, and four months later the application was approved.
When asked by reporters about the aims of the local AgBank branch, Guo said that it would focus on wholesale banking first, but also introduce financial products in conjunction with the Greater Bay Area (GBA) policies.
According to website Investopedia, “Wholesale banking refers to banking services between merchant banks and other financial institutions. This type of banking deals with larger clients, such as large corporations and other banks, whereas retail banking focuses more on the individual or small business. Wholesale banking services include currency conversion, working capital financing, large trade transactions and other types of services.”
Guo was asked by The Macau Post Daily how her bank would utilise Macau’s role as a service platform between China and the world’s eight Portuguese-speaking countries.
She replied that her bank would extend its expertise in Portuguese-speaking countries and its vast international network. She noted that her bank already has 23 branches or partnerships in 17 countries, adding that it just opened a representative office in São Paulo on March 23.
She underlined that both the Macau market and the international market are important.
According to a speech by Zhou Mubing, the bank’s chairman, during yesterday’s ceremony, AgBank has 23,000 branches, subsidiaries or partnerships while it was ranked eighth in the world last year.
