Hong Kong is chosen as the first offshore center of the California-based United Commercial Bank (UCB) because of its prime geographical location for penetrating the China market, cultural affinity with China and business expertise.
This was stated by Thomas S Wu, president and chief executive officer of UCBH Holdings, Inc, at the opening of UCB's new representative office Monday in Hong Kong. UCB is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UCBH Holdings, Inc.
Wu said that UCB has a long-standing commitment to and experience in serving the Chinese market throughout California and that UCB is able to grow from strength to strength, with Hong Kong's geographical proximity to China and strong financial and banking expertise.
"The Hong Kong Representative Office will serve as a liaison office and enable us to assist customers transacting business in California, Hong Kong and Chinese mainland to manage their financial activities more easily and conveniently," Wu added.
John Wan, acting director-general of Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong, said that Invest Hong Kong was pleased that UCB had picked Hong Kong as its first offshore operation outside the United States.
"Hong Kong has one of the highest concentrations of banking institutions in the world. The increase in Mainland-related business necessitates the channeling of banking services at different levels through Hong Kong," he said.
Wan said, "Having been rated as the freest economy in the worldfor eight consecutive years, Hong Kong is proud of its world-classfinancial and banking system, as well as its excellent hard and soft infrastructure."
"We think UCB has made an excellent choice in selecting Hong Kong as the location of their representative office," he added.
(People's Daily January 29, 2002)
