BNP Paribas, France's largest bank by market value, launches private banking services in China as the country's booming economy and rising affluence boost demands for financial services such as asset management, The Standard reported.
BNP Paribas, with 16 private bankers in China, will target wealthy individuals with at least 1 million US dollars of liquid assets, and sell them foreign-exchange, fixed- income and other financial products, said the paper, quoted Michel Longhini, head of Private Bank Asia Pacific, as saying.
"We are looking at a high-level private bank, a niche and fast-growing segment in China," Longhini said in Shanghai. "With our brand name and recognition among entrepreneurs, businessmen, we have a very strong possibility to develop in China."
China will remove in December all geographic and business restrictions on overseas banks, which are expected to focus first on wealthier cities and high-end customers amid rising demand for wealth management products.
China had 320,000 US dollar millionaires in 2005, according to a survey by Capgemini and Merrill Lynch. The world's fourth-largest economy, with US$2 trillion of household savings, had one millionaire per 4,080 people, based on Capgemini figures. While that compares with one millionaire per 80 people in Singapore, overseas banks are betting the number of wealthy will rise as China grows rapidly.
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