Ready to Go Ahead and Expand Business

Hong Kong, January 10, 2007 – The name of China Construction Bank (Asia) Limited (“CCB ( Asia )”) was formally launched, indicating that the company is ready to go ahead and expand business. CCB (Asia), formerly known as the Bank of America (Asia) today held a press conference to introduce the new name and announced that CCB (Asia) has formally become a wholly owned subsidiary of CCB.

The press conference was hosted by Mr. Fan Yifei, Vice President of CCB and Chairman of CCB (Asia) and Mr. Samuel Tsien, Administrative President and CEO of CCB ( Asia ). They announced the change of the bank’s name and unveiled the business expansion plans in Hong Kong and Macao .

Mr. Tsien said, “with a solid and firm financial basis of the parent company, CCB ( Asia ) is now fully prepared to roll out a number of business expansion plans. We plan to increase 14 branches in the coming three years and expand the business of the existing 14 branches in Hong Kong and 3 branches in Macao .”

Mr. Tsien indicated that the bank will recruit 300 news employees while expanding the network of branches. The total employment then will exceed1000.

 “With our professional teams working for us and combined with the enhanced resources, we will surely improve the quality of our banking services. In addition, we will offer more value-added services including wealth management, loans, investment products and insurance services. In the front of commercial banking, we will develop trade, assets and financing circulating capitals and other related businesses to support the development plans of our customers and attracted more customers.”

He announced that in the near future, the bank, based upon its existing solid platform and outstanding operation model, will explore development opportunities in other Asian markets besides Hong Kong and Macao .

In terms of banking services, he added that the agreements signed by the employees, customers and business partners with the Bank of America ( Asia ) will remain valid.

Talking of preferential treatment to customers, he particularly pointed out that the customers of CCB (Asia) and CCB ( Macao ) would be exempted from handling charges when they use the ATMs of CCB in the mainland of China or the ATMs of the Bank of America in the USA to withdraw cash.

Mr. Fan, present at the ceremony, said in this presentation that CCB has been committed to improving the operational efficiency and enhancing the position in the global market in recent years. The reason that CCB made such a choice is that CCB ( Asia ) is well reputed for its services and rated as a good bank. Moreover, the Bank of America ( Asia ) is among the banks with the highest rate of return for core business and has achieved excellent performance in the past two years. He appreciated the leadership of Mr. Tsien, the outstanding performance of the management team and the hard work of the employees.

Mr. Fan announced that the directors of the bank will all remain in the board, and the parent company fully trusted and spoke highly of the existing management team and employees.

 “CCB will offer sufficient resources and support to the business expansion plans of CCB (Asia) and enable the bank to expand retail banking markets in Asia and expand the network of branches based upon its solid platform and outstanding operational experience,” said Mr. Fan.

He also pointed out that the acquisition of all the equities of the Bank of America (Asia) is not only a major move of CCB to implement the overseas development strategy but also a milestone in the history of CCB and CCB ( Asia ). CCB will give priority to the development strategies in Hong Kong, integrate the agencies and business in Hong Kong , utilize the overall and integrated advantage of the bank, and improve the core competitiveness of the bank. We will take CCB (Asia) as a platform to develop the retail business in Hong Kong and Asia-Pacific region and improve the quality of services to domestic and overseas customers.

China Construction Bank ( Asia )’ Profile:

China Construction Bank (Asia), a wholly owned subsidiary of China Construction Bank Corporation, has 14 Branches in Hong Kong . It offers a wide range of consumer and commercial banking products and services. For consumer banking, it offers a full array of banking services from conventional counters, foreign exchange and safe deposit box services, to tailor-made deposit, consolidated banking, investment, loan, insurance and electronic banking to meet the various banking needs of our individual customers. For commercial banking, it provides a host of financial services which include various trade financing, factoring, foreign exchange, factoring, leasing, insurance, investment and electronic banking services. For more information, please log into www.asia.ccb.com.

 

 

China Construction Bank’s Profile:

China Construction Bank Corporation (CCB) was the first bank to go public among China ’s four largest state-owned commercial banks in the overseas market, providing a comprehensive range of commercial banking products and services. CCB’s principal business activities consist of corporate banking, personal banking and treasury operations. CCB is among the market leaders in China in a number of products and services such as infrastructure loans, residential mortgage loans and bank cards. CCB has an extensive customer base, with established banking relationships with many of the largest business groups and leading companies in industries which are strategically important to China ’s economy. And its network covers all major regions throughout the whole country. Customers can access CCB’s services through various channels such as wealth management centers, electronic banking, and self-service banking centers. As of June 30, 2006, it had an extensive network of 13,847 branch outlets in the mainland of China . In addition, it maintained overseas branches in Hong Kong, Singapore, Frankfurt, Johannesburg and Seoul; representative offices in London and New York; wholly owned subsidiary of China Construction Bank (Asia) Limited; and joint ventures of Sino-German Bausparkasse Corporation with share of 75.1% and CCB Principal Asset Management Co., Ltd. with share of 65%.

　　

According to The Banker magazine in July 2005, CCB was rated 11th among Top 1000 World Banks and ranked the No. 1 on the list of top 100 China ’s bank in terms of the tier one capital. According to Asiaweek in July 2006, CCB was rewarded “most profitable bank in Asia ”. For more information, please log into www.ccb.com.