Absa’s corporate and investment banking unit plans to open an office in China as part of an expansion that will also target other parts of Asia and the Middle East.
SA’s third-largest bank has seen business involving the world’s second-biggest economy and its operations across 13 markets on the continent more than double this year, albeit from a small base, he said. The lender is aiming for multinational firms, such as Huawei Technologies, as part of an effort to boost revenue from the region by more than 10% as economic growth at home stutters.
Absa is not the only local lender chasing China. Larger rival Standard Bank Group, which is 20% owned by Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, has said it plans to draw more of the $147bn a year of bilateral trade between Africa and China. FirstRand’s Rand Merchant Bank has a representative office in Shanghai and has entered partnerships with several Chinese lenders, while Nedbank Group in 2013 agreed to co-operate with Bank of China.