The ?Union National Bank will upgrade its Shanghai representative office into a branch as it banks on trade between China and the United Arab Emirates to increase in the near future, said Mahmoud Halawa, the bank's executive vice president and head of business groups, yesterday in Shanghai.

The bank became the first bank from the UAE to operate in China when it set up the Shanghai office in November 2007.

The rise in bilateral trade is creating more business opportunities for the bank, Halawa said. The trade between China and the UAE is expected to grow sevenfold to US$100 billion by 2015 from US$14.2 billion in 2006, according to Gulf News.

About 2,000 Chinese firms operate in the UAE and about 200,000 Chinese work in the country, primarily in the construction sector. The UAE has become one of China's top trading partners in the Gulf.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission requires an overseas bank to have a representative office in the country for at least three years before it is allowed to set up a branch.

(Shanghai Daily July 14, 2009)