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have been a major method for a majority of Chinese banks to tackle overseas markets in recent years, said Yang. The world39。s top 10 banks by market value last year all got bigger through merger and acquisition activities. According to Xia Bin, Director of the Institute of Finance Research under the Development Research Center of the State Council, overseas acquisition is the most convenient way for banks to implement global expansion strategies as it helps to augment their capital size. The size of a bank changes in direct proportion to customer trust as well as the bank39。s market share, said Xia. An impressive size endows a bank with a petitive edge, and acquisition also helps a bank to save resources, optimize resource allocation, increase its market shares, lower its operational costs and augment its profits. Burgeoning markets are the targets of acquisition for many Chinese banks. ICBC will particularly keep an eye on the emerging markets because of the high growth and development potential there, said Jiang Jianqing, ICBC39。s Board Chairman, explaining why they took an interest in South Africa39。s Standard Bank. Besides, the banking sector in these markets opens up faster to allow in more and more crossborder acquisitions. China39。s banks have seldom gained a foothold in regions enjoying huge business potential such as South Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, Wang Lijun, General Manager of BOC39。s Overseas Branch Department, pointed out. But for China39。s mercial banks, these regions will offer remarkable opportunities for business expansion and growth. The Asian market will bee a main stage for Chinese banks to carry out their overseas expansion strategies in the ing few years, Guo said. Compared with the European and American financial markets where the supervision is rigid, the cost is high and the chances are rare for any acquisition, the Asian markets provide huge potential for profits and demand low costs for acquisition. Risks and uncertainties Overseas expansion has never been as smooth as ambitious Chinese banks have expected. For instance, China Development Bank and China State Investment Co. are suffering heavy losses from their overseas investments, respectively in Barclays Bank of England and the . Blackstone Group. According to Luo, the major problem with Chinese banks39。 overseas expansion is high bidding. Even some large mature banks will make such mistakes, said Luo, citing the famous deal of the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) acquiring Hong Kong39。s Dao Heng Bank in 2021. DBS merged Dao Heng at a price three times higher than its book value, and as a result a term Singapore premium was created to refer to acquisitions at a high price in the i