J.P. Morgan Sets Sights on China
By ALISTAIR MACDONALD and JASON LEOW
July 18, 2007 9:42 a.m.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co is transferring a senior London-based banker to Beijing, where it is hoping to win approval to set up a locally incorporated bank that could give it access to China's potentially lucrative banking market, people familiar with the matter say.
Peter Lighte, head of treasury and security services, international client coverage, will take up his post in J.P. Morgan's Beijing office in mid-August, one of these people said.
Mr. Lighte, a fluent Mandarin speaker, will head up the locally incorporated bank and run treasury and security services, which include activities such as acting as an agent on bond payments and document management in structured finance. He did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
J.P. Morgan is part of a group of six waiting to hear whether they have won the right to set up a locally incorporated bank, a prerequisite for offering local-currency banking services to Chinese clients. The list includes South Korea-based Hana Bank, Germany's Deutsche Bank AG and French bank Societe Generale SA.
They are part of a fourth batch of foreign banks awaiting the final green light on their local incorporation, which may come as early as this week, this person said. The U.S. bank has already secured primary-stage approval from China's banking regulator, the China Banking Regulatory Commission.
In April, HSBC Holdings PLC, Citigroup Inc, Standard Chartered Bank and Bank of East Asia Ltd officially became the first batch of locally incorporated foreign financial companies to set up local branches. On July 3, Netherlands-based ABN AMRO NV launched its first Chinese local branch in Shanghai after receiving its license.
J.P. Morgan already offers investment banking and treasury and security services to Chinese clients. It is unclear exactly how the bank would use its local incorporation. Most of the other banks have sought local incorporation in order to roll out yuan-denominated services and tap into China's burgeoning wealthy class.
Yet a local license could be strategic for J.P. Morgan, should it want to apply to the Chinese government for derivative products roll-outs or expand its branches in the future. The government could decide to make paperwork easier for locally incorporated banks.
With its economy set to grow at least 10% this year and increasingly sophisticated investors and capital markets, banks continue to put resources into China, which is expected to overtake Germany as the world's third-largest economy by the end of the year.
J.P. Morgan and others waiting to hear from the Chinese regulators are the first foreign banks to have sought to incorporate in Beijing. Previously, foreign banks that sought local incorporation did so in Shanghai. There has been competition between the two cities to get foreign banks incorporated with them, for the prestige and financial know-how that having a major international name can bring.
主题: J.P. Morgan Sets Sights on China 
周四 七月 19, 2007 12:51 am
