Granting of restricted banking licence to Nedcor Bank Limited

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced today (Tuesday) that the Monetary Authority has granted a restricted banking licence to Nedcor Bank Limited (NBL) under the Banking Ordinance. This grant of restricted banking licence took effect on 16 July 2001.

NBL is a leading banking institution in South Africa and falls under the supervision of South African Reserve Bank. At the end of 2000, consolidated total assets and capital adequacy ratio of NBL were US$17.59 billion and 12% respectively. Profit after tax for 2000 was US$0.7 billion.

In Hong Kong NBL has a wholly owned subsidiary, Nedcor Asia Limited (NAL), which is a restricted licence bank. The main reason for NBL to establish a branch here is to convert its Hong Kong operation from a local subsidiary to a branch in order to capitalise on the financial strength of the head office of the bank. The activities of the Hong Kong Branch of NBL (NBLHK) will be the same as those of NAL, principally in trade financing, syndicated and corporate lending, and private banking. NAL will, after the completion of the transfer of its assets and liabilities to NBLHK, apply for revocation of its authorization as a restricted licence bank in Hong Kong.

After the granting of a restricted banking licence to NBL, the number of restricted licence banks in Hong Kong has increased to 49.

For further enquiries, please contact:

Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Caitlin Wong, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
17 July 2001