On June 5, 2009, China Construction Bank Corporation (“CCB”) held an opening ceremony for its New York Branch.  The New York branch, CCB’s first branch in the United States, extends CCB’s global presence and marks a significant milestone in CCB’s global strategy.  Chinese Consul General to New York Peng Keyu, Deputy Mayor of New York City Robert Lieber, Superintendent of Banks of the New York State Banking Department Richard Neiman, CCB Chairman Guo Shuqing, CCB Vice President Fan Yifei and some 400 local guests attended the opening ceremony. 

Located at 1095 Avenue of the Americas, the New York Branch will engage in wholesale banking activities, including lending, acceptance of wholesale deposits, trade finance, US dollar clearing and treasury.  As the initial operating platform in the United States, the New York Branch will use CCB’s extensive financial resources, robust global network and solid infrastructure to provide premium financial services to its clients, including multinational corporations and financial institutions.

CCB is one of the largest commercial banks in China, ranked second in terms of market capitalization among all listed banks in the world, and is among global industry leaders in terms of profitability.  CCB owns the largest number of ATMs in the world.  CCB ranks first among banks in China in terms of medium and long term capital construction loans and personal residential mortgage loans.  As of the end of the first quarter of 2009, CCB’s total assets were approximately USD$1.3 trillion (RMB 8674.633 billion), with an NPL ratio of 1.9% and a provision coverage ratio of 141.8%, and the net profit for the first quarter of 2009 was USD$3.84 billion (RMB26.276 billion).

CCB’s Chairman Guo Shuqing has stated that the United States is one of China’s most important trade and economic partners, and China is currently the United States’ second largest trading partner.  The establishment of CCB’s branch in New York, the world’s largest financial center, will significantly improve CCB’s ability to provide worldwide services to its customers.  The new branch will also enable the Bank to better facilitate Chinese-American economic and trade investment and financial cooperation and will help CCB to make significant progress towards its vision of becoming a truly global bank.