Source: Macauhub

Banco Luso-Internacional is the first bank operating in Macau to open a representative office on Hengqin Island, in the Zhuhai Special Economic zone, according to an executive order published in the region’s official newspaper.

A spokesman for the bank said that the office was currently being installed and was due to open on 24 January.

The spokesman declined to confirm if the bank had plans to transform the office into a branch, but added that with an office it was possible to cover some of the activities carried out by a branch.

According to the Business Daily newspaper, Banco Luso-Internacional requested to open an office after the minimum capital needed to open a branch in Hengqin was reduced to US$4 billion.

After the minimum capital was dropped the Tai Fung and Nacional Ultramarino banks and the Macau branch of the China Commercial and Industrial Bank.

Banco Luso-Internacional was set up in Macau in 1974 and in 1985 became a 100 percent owned subsidiary of the Xiamen International Bank.