BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Dutch bank quickens pace to expand
By Hu Yuanyuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-01 11:33

"We are very focused on our wealth management services," Hei said.

ABN AMRO's major wealth management service is the Van Gogh Preferred Banking business. The threshold is US$100,000, and the minimum buy for a single product is US$25,000.

"Currently, our clients are mostly local people," Hei said, adding Chinese are comparatively more conservative in wealth management services. "Therefore, our structured deposit products in China guarantee the return of principal upon maturity."

ABN AMRO has the advantage of offering a greater variety of products than its foreign peers. In the first six months of the year, the bank launched 15 kinds of wealth management products in foreign exchange, with the investment target covering gold, petroleum, renewable energy as well as luxury brands.

The major challenge for Kadichah Hei now is how to deal with customer demand in different regions.

The Chinese market is so huge that customers in different regions have different tastes for products and services, so we have to make adjustments accordingly, Hei said.

She cited the example of preferences in Beijing and Shanghai: investors in Beijing prefer a later time for meetings or seminars; and the business style of clients in the two cities is also different.

ABN AMRO, one of the world's largest banks, was founded in 1824. Based in Amsterdam, it opened its first China branch in Shanghai in 1903.


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