Citic International Financial Holdings (CIFH) hopes to re-enter Hong Kong's mortgage and personal unsecured lending markets this year, even as it plans to set up branches in Shanghai and Macau to add to its Shenzhen presence.
Doreen Chan Hui Dor-lam, CIFH's managing director, yesterday said the company was on track to generate a two-year profitability record for its Shenzhen branch to qualify as a provider of yuan business.
The company entered the Shenzhen market by buying a local financial institution.
'We have not been in Hong Kong's mortgage market in the past two years,' she said after an extraordinary general meeting.
Spending on the bank's credit-card business surged 50 per cent and loan receivables saw double-digit growth in the first quarter to March from the same period a year ago, Mrs Chan said.
CIFH chief executive Chang Zhenming yesterday said that Citic Capital, a financial services arm, was expected to contribute higher earnings to CIFH, thanks to a stake increase from 25 per cent to 50 per cent.
