China Construction Bank (CCB), the world’s second biggest bank by assets, opened a branch in Hungary on Wednesday.
Addressing the official opening at the Pest Vigado, Economic Development Minister Marton Nagy congratulated CCB on its Hungarian branch, which he said would hopefully pave the way for more developments. CCB helps Hungarian businesses enter the Chinese market and Chinese investments make their way to Hungary, he said.
CCB chairman Tian Guoli highlighted the long “solid and deep” friendship between China and Hungary. He said CCB expects to contribute to further boosting Chinese-Hungarian economic, financial and trade relations.
Prior to the opening of the branch, Gyorgy Matolcsy, the governor of Hungary’s central bank (NBH), had a business lunch with Tian, the bank said.
Matolcsy and Tian reviewed the global economic and geopolitical situation, as well as the achievements and future opportunities of financial and economic cooperation between Hungary and China, the NBH told MTI.
They identified financial digitalisation as an area for future cooperation between the NBH and CCB, saying it offered serious opportunities for Hungary in terms of technological knowledge transfer, the central bank said.
Matolcsy welcomed CCB’s opening of its Hungarian branch and that more and more Chinese commercial banks were coming to Hungary or setting up their regional centre in the country. This fits well with Hungary’s goal of becoming the financial centre of the central and eastern European region, he said.
