Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (June 2): China Construction Bank (Malaysia) Bhd (CCBM) is the first foreign commercial bank to be granted a banking licence in Malaysia in six years.

CCBM is the third China-based bank in Malaysia after the Bank of China (Malaysia) Bhd and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Malaysia) Bhd.

In his speech today at the opening of the bank, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the establishment of the China Construction Bank (CCB) branch in Malaysia is timely after the recently concluded Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.

"We in Malaysia were one of the first to support the one belt one road (OBOR) [initiative], with developments including the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park, Kuantan Port, Melaka Gateway and the East Coast Rail Link," said Najib.

Furthermore, Najib said Malaysia is one of China's top trading partners and is its largest source of imports in ASEAN.

He noted that China has been Malaysia's largest trading partner for the last eight years.

"For the first quarter of this year, tourism receipts from Chinese tourists have more than doubled," said Najib, adding that last year recorded 2.1 million Chinese tourists and the country is expecting to see 3 million Chinese tourists this year.

Moreover, with a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Alibaba Group last month, Najib said this will establish a data centre in Malaysia later this year.

"This will be the first global public cloud platform in the country," he said.

Meanwhile in CCB chairman Wang Hongzhang's opening speech today, he said Malaysia is an important hub for CCB to expand its business in its international markets.

Wang said the establishment of a wholly-owned subsidiary in Malaysia of CCBM to accelerate CCB's global transformation, in furtherance of playing a significant role in the implementation of the "Belt and Road" initiative and China's "Go Global" strategy, is an important step to yield results on Malaysia-China relations in terms of financial cooperation and exchanges.

"CCB will leverage its financial strengths in infrastructure construction cost consultation, housing mortgage as well as Renminbi (RMB) business, be committed to fully support CCBM's growth by way of good risk management compliance and robust operation in order to provide a comprehensive range of financial services that aim to serve better and provide efficient financial solutions to the vast market in both Malaysia and China," he added.

At the grand opening of CCBM, 13 MoUs were also signed here today. These included MoUs between Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) and CCBM, between Maybank and CCB, and between YTL Corp Bhd and CCBM, as well as 10 other MoUs.

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