Dubai
Guo You, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of China Construction Bank (CCB), on Wednesday rang the market-opening bell to celebrate the listing of a $1.2 billion (Dh4.4 billion) bond on Nasdaq Dubai.
The listing by the Hong Kong Branch of CCB, one of China’s leading banks, underlines the country’s growing financial activities in the UAE and the wider region. CCB’s market capitalisation reached $192.6 billion at the end of 2016, the fifth highest of any bank in the world, and it has branches and subsidiaries in 29 countries.
It is the second bond listing by the Hong Kong Branch of CCB on Nasdaq Dubai under the bank’s six billion US dollar Medium Term Note Programme, following a $600 million bond that listed on the exchange in October 2016.
Guo You, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of CCB HO, said: “The capital raised through our bond supports our growing commercial banking and other activities in the UAE, the Middle East and beyond, under the “Belt and Road” initiative. Nasdaq Dubai provides us with close links to investors around the world as well as a top class regulatory framework, as we rapidly expand our regional financial footprint from our offices in the DIFC.”
CCB’s total assets reached 21.695 trillion yuan (Dh11.71 trillion) at the end of March 2017, an increase of 3.49 per cent, from the end of 2016.
Essa Kazim, Governor of DIFC and Chairman of DFM, said: “Dubai is committed to expanding its economic links with China in order to support dynamic cross border business initiatives and promote mutual prosperity and development. The capital markets are one of the many areas in which our relationship is strengthening, and we will continue to enhance our exchange infrastructure to support the business needs of Chinese institutions.”
Bilateral trade between the UAE and China rose to more than $50 billion in 2016, with China carrying out more trade with the UAE than any other nation.
