Shanghai Banking Centre Supplies Bridgehead for Bank of America

Bank of America, the third-largest bank in the United States by assets, opened its first consumer and commercial banking centre in Shanghai on March 1, 2004, marking its first expansion into retail banking in China, according to Xinhuanet. 

"This is the first time that the Bankof America brand is being shown to the general public in China on street level since we established our first representative office in Beijing 23 years ago," said Sam Tsien, executive of the bank's Asia Consumer and Commercial Banking Group, at the opening ceremony of the new branch.

Located on Nanjing Zhonglu in downtown Shanghai, the new centre offers personal banking services in US dollars including deposits, mortgages, financial management and electronic banking. Commercial banking services include lending, trade finance and deposits.

Daniel Tay, the bank's regional manager of products in Asia, was quoted as saying that about 50 percent of the bank's Asian investment dollars has been spent in China in the last two years.