Granting of banking licence to Banca Intesa S.p.A. ("Intesa")

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced today (17 February 2000) that the Monetary Authority has granted a banking licence to Intesa under the Banking Ordinance. This grant of banking licence took effect on 16 February 2000.

Intesa ranked 5^th among banks in Italy and 81^st globally in terms of tier one capital as at 31 December 1998. At present, Intesa is both a banking organisation and a holding company of five Italian banking organisations, namely, Banco Ambrosiano Veneto S.p.A., Cariplo - Cassa di Risparmio delle Provincie Lombarde S.p.A., Banca Popolare FriulAdria, C.R. Parma e Piacenza and Banca Commerciale Italiana S.p.A.. Through its banking subsidiaries, Intesa currently has the second largest retail banking network in Italy.

The main reason for Intesa's application for establishing a branch in Hong Kong is to take up the business of the Hong Kong Branch of Cariplo ("Cariplo-HK") as part of a restructuring of the group. As with Cariplo-HK, the principal activities of the Hong Kong Branch of Intesa are the provision of syndicated lending, corporate lending, trading financing and treasury management. Cariplo will apply for revocation of its authorisation in Hong Kong after the completion of transfer of its assets and liabilities to the Hong Kong Branch of Intesa.

With the granting of a banking licence to Intesa, the number of licensed banks in Hong Kong has increased to 156.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
17 February 2000