The 23 foreign banks in Beijing paid 36 million yuan (US$4.3 million) in taxes in the first quarter of this year, up 75 percent over the same period last year, the city taxation bureau said Saturday.

Foreign banks have become one of the leading tax payers in Beijing, said an official with the foreign tax section of the taxation bureau.

The Beijing Branch of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) began offering Renminbi business Monday this week. Other foreign banks including the Standard Chartered Bank and Citibank have also shifted their business emphasis to Beijing.

Personal income tax paid by the staff of foreign bank branches increased the fastest as business expansion resulted in employment of more people. The foreign tax section collected more than 24 million yuan (US$2.8 million) in personal income tax in the first quarter of this year, a sharp increase of 74 percent year on year.

(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2005)