Swedbank, a commercial bank based in Sweden, Monday became the first bank from Northern Europe to open a representative office in Shanghai, the financial center of the Chinese mainland.
During his meeting with Goran Collert, chairman of the board of Swedbank, or Sparbankernas Bank, Xu Kuangdi, mayor of Shanghai, welcomed the move.
The mayor said he hoped the representative office will soon be promoted to a branch and become eligible for dealing in Chinese currency business after China's entry into the World Trade Organization.
Collert said he believed the office will have a bright future as more and more Swedish companies are going to invest in China and Shanghai is becoming an international financial and trade center.
The application for opening the office by the Swedish bank was approved by the People's Bank of China, China's central bank, less than a month after it was lodged, sources said.
By the end of last year, the 181 year-old Swedbank had total assets worth 929.4 billion krona.
(People's Daily 05/29/2001)
