Allied Commercial Bank expands China presence

Ten years after setting foot in Xiamen as the first fully foreign-owned commercial bank in China, Allied Commercial Bank is expanding westward with the inauguration of its first branch in the historic industrial city of Chongqing.

A subsidiary of Allied Banking Corp., the Philippines’ 10th largest bank, Allied Commercial Bank’s Chongqing branch is located at the third level of the Hilton Hotel building in the heart of the city’s business district.

Like its mother unit in Xiamen, Allied Commercial Bank-Chongqing hopes to take a crack at the burgeoning business opportunities in this bustling city of 30 million.

Leading the inauguration rites of the bank’s newest branch was Allied Bank founder Dr. Lucio C. Tan who was joined by a 200-man delegation from the Philippines which includes top business leaders from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (PCCI), Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII), Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) and executives from Allied Bank and the Lucio C. Tan Group of Companies. Top government officials of Chongqing City and Sichuan province also graced the occasion.

"Following the Chinese central government’s directive to hasten and accelerate the development of Western China, Allied Commercial Bank decided to locate its first branch in the City of Chongqing as an initial salvo of the group’s investment, and more importantly, as a testament of our confidence in this region," Tan said in his keynote address.

The taipan acknowledged the great potential of Chongqing, and Western China in general, given its expansive land area, vast resources, large pool of skilled manpower and modern infrastructure. "Allied Commercial Bank will do its best in providing clients fast, dependable and unparalleled service in the export-import, trade and foreign exchange services. With the same support and patronage that our clients and the Chinese government have extended to the bank, our Chongqing branch will, so to speak, firmly take root, flower and bear fruit," Tan stressed.

Established in 1993 with a paid-up capital of $15 million, Allied Commercial Bank’s assets now stand at $85 million – a five-fold increase after a decade of operations. Total loans granted reached $60 million, with accumulated profits at $10 million in the last 10 years.

A medium-sized bank by Chinese standards, Allied Commercial Bank caters mainly to foreign investment firms from Southeast Asia who are doing business in China. Roughly 80 percent of its loan portfolio goes to manufacturing concerns while the remaining 20 percent is divided among the real estate, agriculture and trading sectors.

Situated in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Chongqing is a port city with the largest area and population in China. It is China’s fourth most important city after Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, where mainstay industries have taken shape, such as machine-building, chemicals, metallurgy, information technology, agriculture and others.