ABN AMRO has seen its revenue explode in the first half and it is confident that it will be approved for a yuan license.

Its revenue from consumer banking soared 83.8 percent in the first half, gaining from a network expansion and launch of new products, ABN AMRO said yesterday. Assets under management more than doubled from a year ago in the period. Its total revenue in China swelled about 76 percent in the first half.

The Dutch bank opened a sub-branch in Shanghai yesterday, boosting its total network to 18 in China. The bank said in July that it will boost its outlets to more than 20 by the end of 2008.

The bank is still awaiting a license to conduct unlimited yuan services to Chinese citizens. Its rivals like HSBC, Citi, Standard Chartered and Bank of East Asia, have already started their yuan services to tap the affluent Chinese market.

Though confident of getting the yuan license, it is not able to divulge more details of it now. The possible range of products to be introduced could include yuan-denominated credit card, as the bank indicated earlier this year.

The bank opened its locally incorporated entity, ABN AMRO (China) Co Ltd, in July with a registered capital of four billion yuan (US$540 million).

ABN AMRO now has about 1,800 employees in China.

(Shanghai Daily November 16, 2007)