BBVA’s representative office in Taipei, set up in 2006, is now a full branch. The entity is now the first Spanish bank to open a branch in Taiwan and the first European bank to open one since the financial crisis began.BBVA began building its Asian franchise over 30 years ago and now has operations in the continent’s main financial centers. The Taipei branch will be added to the group’s four other branch offices in the region, in Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo. BBVA also has representative offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Mumbai and Sydney as well as a strategic agreement with China CITIC Bank (CNCB) on mainland China (15% stake) and another with CITIC International Financial Holdings in Hong Kong (30% stake).
“Not only is BBVA leader in Latin America, it is at thismoment the only European bank with full operating capacity in Asia,” the Spanish entity said in a press release.
Francisco González highlighted Taiwan’s strong growth potential, which has made it one of BBVA’s most important markets and a key part of the bank’s expansion plans for Asia. During his visit to Taiwan, González met with the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Taiwan, Chin-Long Yang, and other government authorities, along with local companies and corporations. BBVA's chairman attended the official opening of the new BBVA branch in Taipei, located in one of the main towers of the capital city’s financial district.
Focused on investment banking and global markets business, the new branch is designed to meet the needs of Taiwan’s large multinational corporations and institutional investors, especially those with interests in Latin America. BBVA said it wants to position itself in Taiwan as a provider of a standard range of products, from structured finance or commercial lending to syndicated loans, corporate finance and capital markets, in foreign markets where local banks do not have operations in Latin America, Spain, Portugal and the US.
