BoC Hong Kong (Holdings) Limited, the Hong Kong unit of the Bank of China Group, has announced that the completion of a proposed Thailand Share Purchase Acquisition will take place on January 9 2017. Upon completion, BoC Thailand will become an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of the BoC Hong Kong. The assets, liabilities and financial results of BoC Thailand will be consolidated into the financial accounts of BoC Hong Kong.

As the first Chinese bank operating in Thailand, Bank of China established a representative office in Bangkok in 1995, which later upgraded to a branch and then transformed into a subsidiary. The share purchase agreement is part of the asset restructuring of the Bank of China Group.

Yue Yi, vice chairman and chief executive of BoC Hong Kong (Holdings) said “This marks a new step forward in implementing BoC Group’s overseas development strategy and accelerating BoCHK’s transformation into a regional bank.

“Leveraging BoCHK’s competitive advantages in services, products and resources, we will adopt a regional management approach to promote collaboration among institutions in Southeast Asia and enhance BoC Group’s overall business strength and market competitiveness in the region,” Tui says. “As a result, we will be better positioned to capture opportunities arising from national strategies such as the Belt and Road Initiative, RMB internationalisation and Mainland enterprises going global, while further developing our business in Hong Kong and the Southeast Asian region."

As the second largest economy in Southeast Asia with enormous development potential, Thailand is an important part of BoC Group’s strategic development plan. In recent years, theThailand Government has introduced a number of measures to promote its economic development and attract overseas investment.

BoC Thailand has had a presence in Thailand for over two decades. It will continue to capitalize on BoC Group’s solid customer base and diversified financial product and service platform to help more Mainland enterprises going global to invest in Thailand. In addition, it will enhance its services to better serve local enterprises, institutions and personal customers, and provide premium financial services and support to economic and trade development between China and Thailand, as well as Thailand’s economy.