Chairman says bank is aiming to be more competitive in the home loan market
The chairman of the Bank of China New Zealand said that his company is looking to expand its mortgage book over the next two years, despite limitations on its access to capital.
The Bank of China currently has two operations in New Zealand – a branch of the China-based Bank of China and a registered subsidiary, Bank of China NZ. Chris Tremain, chairman of Bank of China NZ, recently told interest.co.nz that, while the set-up allows for “dual means of growing in the New Zealand market,” the Reserve Bank limits its access to capital because “our loan book can't be any larger in the branch than the subsidiary.”
“They're two separate companies [and] Bank of China NZ has to have separate capital from Bank of China global,” Tremain told interest.co.nz.
Nevertheless, Tremain said that that the bank is aiming to be more competitive in the home loan market, despite the constraints. And this means breaking out of New Zealand’s Chinese community and reaching a bigger market.
“At the moment we're just under $1 billion in mortgage loans and we'd like to think that over the next couple of years we can double the size of that book," Tremain told interest.co.nz. “That is a goal for us – to reach beyond the Chinese community.”
