Granting of banking licence to Land Bank of Taiwan Co., Ltd.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced today (Friday) that the Monetary Authority has granted a banking licence to Land Bank of Taiwan Co., Ltd. (LBT) under the Banking Ordinance. The granting of this banking licence took effect on 21 December 2006.

LBT is wholly owned by the Government of Taiwan and has maintained a representative office in Hong Kong since 1999. According to the July 2006 issue of The Banker, LBT is the third largest bank in Taiwan and the 174^th largest bank in the world in terms of total assets.

After the granting of a banking licence to LBT, the number of licensed banks in Hong Kong has increased to 138.

For further enquiries, please contact:
Ying-ying Cheng, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
22 December 2006