AMSTERDAM/TANGSHAN,12 January 2010 -- Amsterdam-based financial sector advisory firm Financial Access and Tangshan City Commercial Bank (TCCB), a regional bank in Northeastern China, have launched a new co-operative initiative in consumer and private banking.


In partnership with the Bank’s management, Financial Access will furnish a management team specifically charged with building a new retail and private banking business in the bank. The new team will be composed of highly experienced international bankers partnered with Chinese professionals and will be in place for a minimum initial 12 month pilot period dedicated to creating a new product organisation and to bringing TCCB’s support organisation in line with international standards and best practices. The retail banking project, based on a profit-sharing concept, is expected to lead to across-the-board benefits in the Bank’s operations over its full six year timeframe.

Financial Access specialises in the mobilisation of management, know-how, and capital resources for the financial sector in the emerging and transition economies. The firm was founded in late 2006 as a management buy-out of the financial sector consulting practice of ING Bank, established in the early 1990s.

Financial Access Partner Eelko Bronkhorst, in Tangshan for the signing ceremony marking the new venture, notes that ‘Tangshan is a relatively under-served metropolitan area for consumer and private banking, even given its proximity to major centres such as Beijing and Tianjin. Our team is excited about the prospects for developing a robust and rapidly growing business in this area. The mode of joint venturing here is innovative and could prove to be path-breaking in China.’

‘We are confident that, strengthened by our team of international and Chinese managers working together on a clear strategy, we will bring the best practices to bear in capturing the attractive opportunities for consumer and private banking here in Tangshan,’ comments TCCB’s CEO, Zhang Hua.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Financial Access (www.financialxs.com) is a financial advisory firm based in Amsterdam. Its clients are exclusively financial institutions in emerging and transition economies, as well as investors in the financial sector, including investment funds, development finance institutions, governments and donor agencies. Financial Access Consulting Services is active in the mobilisation of management and know-how for financial institutions and is staffed by bankers and managers by profession. Advice is practically-orientated and grounded in concrete experience running and building financial institutions in developing markets. Investment advisory activities associated with the financial sector are carried out through Financial Access Capital Management. Financial Access was formally launched in January 2007. The firm is a management buy-out of ING Bank’s financial sector advisory practice in emerging markets originally founded in the early 1990s.

Tangshan City Commercial Bank (www.ts-bank.cn) is controlled by the municipal authority of Tangshan City, Hebei Province, a metropolitan region in China’s top 20 cities with some 7 million inhabitants. The bank was established in 1998, in common with other similar city commercial banks in China on the basis of a merger of pre-existing urban credit co-operatives in the city area. At end-2008 the bank had assets of CNY 17 billion (ca. EUR1.7 billion), deposits of CNY15 billion and a profit of CNY240 million. The bank serves the Tangshan region with 31 branches.