BNU and BOC sign protocol to enhance Macau’s role as platform

Banco Nacional Ultramarino (BNU) signed a co-operation agreement with Bank of China (BOC) Macau Branch yesterday seeking to enhance business co-operation and play to Macau’s advantage as a ‘platform’ between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries.
Via the global network of Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), the parent company of BNU, and Bank of China, a platform of information and communication channels will be created to share market information on China and Portuguese-speaking Countries. It is to promote cross-referrals of business opportunities and also to strengthen the co-operation for settlement and credit related business.
“This co-operation agreement with Bank of China has one big objective, which is to promote Macau as a platform for co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries,” said Pedro Cardoso, CEO of BNU. “This is a very good opportunity because as you know Bank of China has a very strong network in China and also quite a good international platform in other countries. But in the Portuguese-speaking countries, our banking group (CGD) has a unique position – we are in seven Portuguese-speaking countries, in five of which we are market leader.
So, joining these two forces together, we have the ideal team to win this challenge, to make sure that Macau can effectively promote and do a lot of cross -referral type of business, based on this complementary strength.” Advantage
The CEO of BNU stressed the group’s global presence. Pedro Cardoso said he believes opportunities can be further explored as China is growing its business internationally as well.
“We are in 23 countries all over the world. We are in some of the most important business partners of China. For instance, we are in France – we are the second largest foreign bank in France. We have a reasonable branch network in Spain. We have 110 branches in Spain. We are in countries like the United States, the UK, South Africa and so on,” said Mr. Cardoso.
The CEO of the financial institution also indicated the challenges of Macau as some hoped the SAR would become a financial centre but he believe the city has its own advantages.
“I think that Macau’s financial sector has some good opportunities but we have to look carefully into this matter because as you know very nearby Macau we have a very strong financial centre, which is Hong Kong.
So, we cannot copy that model because otherwise we will be completed outnumbered. And we cannot win against this competition. But I think there are specific areas in Macau that we can do much better in, in terms of the financial sector,” he said.
Hengqin branch
BNU is expecting to open its Hengqin Branch in the beginning of the second half of next year. Pedro Cardoso said they’ve applied to the Macau authorities and are awaiting approval. After that, they will apply to the central government of China for a final decision. However, the expected new branch would offer basic banking services to begin with.
“We will start our operations there with a very basic banking approach because basically what we want to do is to provide a service to our customer base. We have thousands of customers that have business in Mainland China, particularly in Guangdong Province. They require very basic type of service, like loans, guarantees, deposits. cards and so on,” said Mr. Cardoso. “Our expectation is for us to focus on those basic products first and then after we will see what comes next”.