Merger offers bank new goals

Ping An Bank will open more outlets in China and a treasury department in Shanghai as it becomes a new integrated banking unit of Ping An Insurance (Group) Co, the bank's President Richard Jackson said Friday.

The Shenzhen-based lender plans to open 60 new outlets in 2012 to consolidate its network in China. The bank now has about 400 outlets nationwide, covering 80 percent of Ping An's customer groups.

Jackson said in December that he hopes to double outlets in five years.

The bank will also open a treasury department in Shanghai to tap the city's ambitions to become a global financial center.

Jackson said the bank in future will focus on helping develop small and medium-sized companies and also create new innovative products.

The integrated Ping An Bank was formed from the merger of Shenzhen Development Bank and Ping An Insurance (Group)'s own smaller banking unit, Ping An Bank, whose name it has retained.

Jackson said that the Ping An branding will help the lender to set up a national network and expand its comprehensive financial services.