Tag Archives: Xinhu Zhongbao

BANKING: BBVA’s Citic Sell-Down Shows Foreign Bank Frustration

Bottom line: China needs to accelerate the opening of its banking sector to foreign participation, or risk losing overseas expertise and investment dollars that could revitalize the sector.

BBVA sells down Citic Bank stake

Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) became the latest major foreign bank to check out of China last week, when it sold off half of its stake in Citic Bank, a unit of one of the nation’s leading financial services groups. The move follows a similar series of sales by other major foreign financial firms over the last 5 years, depriving China’s state-run banks of valuable expertise they could have used as they make the transition from their past as policy lenders to more commercially-oriented institutions. Read Full Post…