Granting of banking licence to TAIPEIBANK Co., Ltd.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced today (Friday) that the Monetary Authority has granted a banking licence to TAIPEIBANK Co., Ltd. (TPB) under the Banking Ordinance. This grant of banking licence took effect on 30 May 2002.

TPB is a bank incorporated in Taiwan and has maintained a local representative office since 1998. According to The Banker, July 2001 issue, TPB ranked 234th and 292nd in the world and 12th and 11th in Taiwan in terms of tier 1 capital and total assets respectively.

With the grant of a banking licence to TPB, the number of licensed banks in Hong Kong has increased to 142.

For further enquiries, please contact:

Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480 or
Sylvia Yip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
31 May 2002