Singapore’s United Overseas Bank has received preliminary approval from the regulator to open a new branch in the pilot free trade zone in Shanghai, becoming the seventh overseas lender to participate in China’s latest financial reforms.

Citi, DBS, HSBC, Bank of East Asia, Hang Seng Bank and Deutsche Bank received nod from the China Banking Regulatory Commission to establish a branch in the FTZ earlier.

UOB currently operates 13 outlets on China’s mainland. A new branch opened on the Bund in Shanghai yesterday, targeting customers with net asset above 1 million yuan (US$164,000).

The bank also plans to add an additional sub-branch in Beijing this year and a branch in Chongqing in the second quarter of next year, Wee Ee Cheong, the banking group’s vice chairman and chief executive officer, said in Shanghai yesterday.

“About 8,000 companies have set up offices in the new free trade zone and a number of them are Fortune 500 firms, which is a very good source of customers with high quality and will benefit foreign banks like UOB,” he said.

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