Bohai Bank: A new model for China

摘要

When Dai Xianglong, a former governor of Chinas central bank, became mayor of Tianjin in January 2003, Standard Chartereds China chairman, Lance Browne, sent him a congratulatory note. Tongue in cheek, he wrote to his old friend that he expected Tianjin "would now be turned into a major financial center in north China," recalls Browne. Dai soon unveiled precisely such a plan and also began lobbying for a new national bank to be headquartered in the busding port city. His plan to turn the city into a financial center remains a distant dream, but the bank — Tianjin-based China Bohai Bank — was founded amid much fanfare in Beijing's Great Hall of the People on September 6. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair were in attendance, as was Browne, who had fended off numerous foreign competitors to enable StanChart to buy a 19.99 percent, $123 million stake in the bank.