As the US tilted towards fears of a double-dip recession last week, one Midtown Manhattan office exuded calm.
'The financial crisis is a chance for us as newcomers,' said Li Wei, the general manager of China Construction Bank Corp's New York branch, a tranquil office overlooking Bryant Park.
CCB is one of the three large Chinese state-controlled banks to open a branch in New York in the past two years. The banks are quietly overcoming local regulatory hurdles as they move tentatively into the US market in a bumpy global economy. With lending still slow among US banks, Li said, there was little customer loyalty to institutions with a longer history here.
'To the extent that they don't have a legacy portfolio of bad loans that the US banks do,' said Henry Fields, a partner at law firm Morrison & Foerster, which has advised foreign banks operating here, 'they have a competitive advantage.'
Since opening in June last year, CCB's New York branch has brought in assets of US$560 million. The branch has hired 35 employees, most of them locals, and primarily serves corporate clients who are involved in US-China trade and investment.
Hoku Corp is a typical customer. The Honolulu-based clean-energy company received a US$28.3 million loan from CCB in June for the construction of a polysilicon production plant in Idaho. The agreement was arranged through Chengdu-based Tianwei New Energy, a majority owner of Hoku and a previous client of the bank.
