Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China, 5 July, 2005 – Ping An Bank Limited (“Ping An Bank”) today announced that its headquarters was relocated from Fuzhou to Shanghai’s Jingan Square and the previous Fuzhou headquarters will now serve as a branch office. Mr. Feng Guoqing, Vice Mayor of Shanghai, attended and cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony.
“Constructing a harmonious society with continual development is crucial to China in the 21st century. As the income of Mainland citizens increases and their portfolios of assets are further diversified, financial institutions are required to provide more innovative products to fulfill customers’ needs. We spare no effort in improving our operations, structure, products and services to capture market opportunities. The opening of Ping An Bank enables Ping An Group to provide more diversified products and services to customers,” Dr. Peter Ma, Chairman and CEO of Ping An Group, said in the opening ceremony.

Dr Ma said,” the principle of Ping An Group is based on ‘Centralized Control, Diversified Operations and Professional Management’. With an emphasis on ‘International Standards and Local Advantages’, we are confident that Ping An Bank will become a competitive, systematic and reliable commercial bank.

“As the shareholders of Ping An Bank, Ping An Group and HSBC will continue to support the development of Ping An Bank. Ping An Insurance has a strong business foundation and customer network in Shanghai. While we have our China headquarters in Shanghai, we believe that the two companies will be able to provide the best support for Ping An Bank’s future development. Ping An is an important strategic partner of HSBC and we look forward to more cooperation opportunities in the banking and insurance businesses. Our recent stake increase in Ping An has further demonstrated our confidence in the relationship,” Mr. Peter Wong, Executive Director of HSBC commented.

Mr. Xu Guangzhong, Chairman of Ping An Bank, said, “The relocation of the headquarters was aimed at providing the best operating environment for Ping An Bank. The bank will start its business from the Yangtze River Delta and gradually expand to other parts of China. In Shanghai, where domestic and foreign financial institutions compete with each other, Ping An Bank will learn from other peers’ experience and grasp the precious opportunity to perfect its human resources, organizational structure, business development, risk control and IT support. Our objective is to further improve quality, efficiency, scale and performance and as a result, build our unique competitive advantages and create value for our shareholders, customers, employees and society.”

Before joining Ping An Bank as the Governor, Mr. Chen Kunder was the Senior Executive Vice President of Chinatrust Financial Holding Company in Taiwan. “China’s GDP has been growing at a rate of 8-9% over the past few years. The higher domestic income has improved the consumption power of local citizens, especially in the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the Bohai Region. Our objective is to become the leading financial services provider in China in ten years time,” Said Mr. Chen.

With the support from Ping An Group and HSBC, and the leadership of an international management team, Ping An Bank has been running smoothly since its establishment. With the leverage of HSBC’s solid experience in banking, IT, credit risk management and auditing, Ping An Bank can further upgrade its operations and management to international standards. Ping An Group has also provided full support to Ping An Bank in terms of strategic planning, human resources and business development.

Ping An Bank is licensed to provide foreign currency business to Chinese enterprises, three forms of enterprise with foreign investment, citizens and non-citizen foreigners. According to the WTO commitment, China’s banking industry will be fully opened to foreign companies on 1 December 2006. Facing the increased competition, Ping An Bank will make its best effort to develop RMB collective business, RMB individual business, individual retail business, credit card business and individual financial management business.

Ping An Bank was formerly known as the Fujian Asia Bank Ltd, which was established in 1993. On 29 December 2003, with the approval from the China Banking Regulatory Commission, Ping An Group, through its subsidiary Ping An Securities, acquired Fujian Asia Bank Ltd jointly with HSBC. Fujian Asia Bank Ltd was renamed Ping An Bank after the acquisition. Ping An Group currently owns 73% of Ping An Bank while HSBC owns 27%.