Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Bank of China (BOC) have launched a new private banking venture in China. The new venture will aim to secure investment from Chinese millionaires, numbers of which were shown by a poll from Merrill Lynch and Capgemini to have grown by 6.8 per cent in 2005.
RBS has said that the venture will use the Chinese bank’s branding initially and would establish a presence in Beijing and Shanghai towards the end of March.
“Today is an important milestone because it’s another business activity that’s just started,” says Fred Goodwin, RBS chief executive. “We look forward to our next milestones as they come up.”
Goodwin has also revealed that the bank is looking to launch further joint ventures with its Chinese equity partner and mooted insurance as a possible area for investment.