Public (: CHIB) | |
Industry | Finance |
Founded | August 16, 1920 (Manila, Philippine Islands) |
Headquarters | China Bank Building, 8745 Paseo de Roxas corner Villar St., Makati City 1226, Philippines |
Number of locations
|
295 China Bank, 72 China Bank Savings branches 505 China Bank, 56 China Bank Savings ATMs (December 31, 2013) |
Key people
|
Hans T. Sy, Chairman Ricardo R. Chua, President and CEO |
Services | Banking |
P15.10 billion PHP (December 31, 2013) | |
Number of employees
|
5,594 (as of December 31, 2013) |
Website | www.chinabank.ph |
China Banking Corporation (: CHIB), commonly known as China Bank, is a Filipino bank established in 1920. It was the first privately owned local commercial bank in the Philippines initially catering to the banking needs of Chinese-Filipino businessmen. It offers various banking services and products related to deposit, investment, trust, cash management, remittance, and financing products and services. It also offers insurance brokerage and bancassurance services through its subsidiary and affiliate.
China Bank was included in thee list of one of the "top 100 ASEAN companies in terms of delivering shareholder value" by the US consulting firm Stern Stewart and Company in 2009. It was also awarded the Best Wealth Management House in the Philippines by The Asset Magazine (HK) in 2011. At the 2012 Bell Awards of the Philippine Stock Exchange, China Bank was named as one of the best-governed companies in the Philippines. It was the only bank among the top five awardees in the publicly listed companies category. The Bank was again awarded at the Bell Awards in 2013—one of only two other awardees to have been in the top five twice in a row. China Bank was also a recipient of the Institute of Corporate Director's Gold Award for Corporate Governance in 2011 and 2012.
China Bank, founded by Dee C. Chuan, Albino SyCip and other visionaries, opened for business at No. 90 Quintin Paredes Street, Binondo on August 16, 1920, with J.W. McFerran as the first general manager. Shortly afterward, Eugene E. Wing of the International Banking Corporation took over and managed China Bank's operations until 1936. This mixture of cultures represented a seamless merger of Western and Eastern banking policies—an obvious lack during those days when financial institutions governed by Western policies declined credit loans of wealthy Filipino-Chinese businessmen who operated on the principle of xinyong or trustworthiness. China Bank recognized xinyong and granted small loans and opened credit accounts with patrons and suppliers without demand for collateral for the loan.
China Bank opened two branches in China, one in Amoy in 1925 and another in Shanghai in 1929. However, both branches closed in 1944 when conditions in China became inimical to the Bank's operations.
When the Japanese occupational forces invaded Manila in 1942, China Bank closed. Fortunately, by the end of 1941, the Bank had been making steady deposits and turning over assets to the United States High Commissioner for safekeeping, with the help of the officials of the US Treasury Department of Manila. With these overseas assets and the Bureau of Banking’s full cooperation, China Bank reopened in 1945 and was listed on the local stock exchange in 1947, among the first local banks to be listed.