Bank of China expanding presence in Singapore (Amended)

Singapore

THE Bank of China (BOC) is expanding its presence here with more branches, more ATMs and a freshly inked deal with the local bourse to roll out more yuan-denominated financial instruments.

BOC said in a statement on Friday that its Singapore unit has set up one new branch at Westgate in Jurong East and another at Causeway Point in Woodlands, bringing the total number of branches islandwide to eight. It has 10 stand-alone ATMs in Singapore, in locations such as Resorts World Sentosa, Marina Bay Sands, Changi Airport, Ngee Ann City and VivoCity.

The bank added in a joint statement with the Singapore Exchange on Friday that the two have signed an agreement to work together to strengthen the renminbi infrastructure in both markets. This includes rolling out products such as yuan-denominated commodities and derivatives contracts.

The bank's investment banking arm, BOC International Holdings, will also do "joint marketing" with SGX to offer firms more access to growth opportunities in China and Singapore markets, the parties said. BOC is the SGX's first Chinese settlement bank for its derivatives market.

The bank said its Singapore unit's total assets had reached S$38.3 billion by the end of 2014, 30 per cent more than the previous year. The unit's profit after tax for the 12 months ended Dec 31 jumped 72 per cent to S$237 million and revenue shot up 77 per cent to S$528 million from the previous year.

An earlier version of this story stated that the bank has 18 ATMs islandwide, based on information provided by a Bank of China spokesman. It actually has 10.