Wing Lung Bank Hong Kong

Wing Lung Bank Hong Kong was initially known as the Wing Lung Ngan Ho and was an indigenous bank. The Wing Lung Bank Hong Kong was set up by the name of Wing Lung Ngan Ho in the year 1933 and the business started on the 25th of February at the 37 Bonham Strand East, in Hong Kong. The Wing Lung Bank Hong Kong got started with a capital sum of HK$ 44,500. The initial business of the bank comprised of remittances, deposits and money exchange. The Bank was also engaged in the selling and buying of the shares, gold bullion, stocks and the Chinese Government bonds.

The year 1937 witnessed the growth of the business of the Wing Lung Bank in Hong Kong and the shifting of the bank office to the 112 Queen's Road, Central, Hong Kong. During the Pacific War, in the year 1941, the Wing Lung Bank of Hong Kong moved away to Macau and carried on with the business. Some of the staffs and members moved to the office at Macau while others went on to the offices located at Liuzhou, China and Guangxi. In the newer regions the bank established the Wing Lung Jewelry and Gold Dealers. The Wing Lung Bank of Hong Kong however continued to offer its services to the customers in the new regions.

After the end of the war in the year 1945, the Hong Kong Wing Lung Bank resumed its services in the city. In the year 1950, the Wing Lung Bank became a part of the Hong Kong Bankers' Clearing House. It resumed its documentary bill operations in the year 1952 and also redeveloped its head office in the city. The bank joined the National Insurance Company of New Zealand as a general agent for Macau and Hong Kong, in the year 1953. The year 1956 witnessed the incorporation of the Wing Lung Bank Hong Kong as a limited company and this was followed by a massive increase in the staff members and the business of the bank. The premise of the Wing Lung Bank was expanded for the purpose of redevelopment.

The office of the Wing Lung Bank was redeveloped for a third time in the year 1965, in order to meet the business expansion of the bank. The year 1975 witnessed the joint celebration of the new head office of the Wing Lung Bank and the 40th Anniversary. The new office of the Bank was situated between the Connaught Road Central and the Des Voeux Road Central. The height of the building of the Wing Lung Bank is approximately equal to 300 feet, while the entire floor area stretches for about 145,000 square feet. Another important incident that took place in the year 1973 was the participation of The Chartered Bank as a shareholder at the Wing Lung Bank.

In the year 1975, the Bank Center, which was a property of the Wing Lung Bank at the region of Mongkok in Kowloon, got completed. The property is located on a building that is 300 feet above the ground and comprised of 245,000 square feet area. An online system of computers was also installed in the same year and all the deposition operations have been computerized ever since. A computer center was opened in the same year that was completely owned by the Wing Lung Bank Hong Kong and this led to the computerization of all the operations of the bank.

The year 1980 saw the opening of 25% shares of the bank for sale to the public and the bank opening its trade on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In 1982, the Wing Lung Bank in Hong Kong joined hands with 4 different banks in the city in order to organize the Joint Electronic Teller Services Limited network. This step initiated the opening of the ATMs or the automated teller machine service for the citizens. Two years later, the very first oversees branch of the bank was established in the city of Los Angeles, California in the United States America. The year 1986 witnessed the Government of Hong Kong authorizing the Wing Lung Insurance Company Limited, the fully owned subsidiary of the Wing Lung Bank, to get involved in the business related to insurance.

The Standard Chartered Bank called back all of its shares from the Wing Lung Bank in 1987 and transferred the 10% capital of the Bank to the Wu family. A change in the investment policy of the Standard Chartered Bank

led to this withdrawal of its interest in the Wing Lung Bank Hong Kong. The same year also saw the establishment of the Hongnet Limited, better known as the Wing Lung Securities Limited, in order to offer securities broking services to the customers. In 1992, 10% shares of the Bank were acquired by the Development Bank of Singapore Limited, from the Wu family controlled companies. The Development Bank of Singapore Limited also became a shareholder of the Wing Lung Bank in the same year.

The Guangzhou Representative Office of the Wing Lung Bank Hong Kong was established in the year 1994, in the land of China. The credit card operations of the Bank started from 1995, while in 1996, an operation center was opened in order to take care of the back office tasks and services. Previously, the individual branches and departments of the Bank were into handling the back office services. In the same year, an entirely new office was opened at the Cayman Islands, BWI so as to offer the off-shore services related to banking, to the customers.

In 1998, the Wing Lung Bank started providing leasing services and the hire purchase services via the Wing Lung Finance Limited, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank. In order to provide the Internet banking services to the customers, the Wing Lung NET Banking was started in 1998. In 1999, a Representative Office was set up by the Wing Lung Bank Hong Kong in Shanghai. Another important incident that took place in the same year was the partnership of the Bank with the Bank Consortium Trust Company Limited so as to tap the Mandatory Provident Fund business.

The Hong Kong Life Insurance Limited and the BC Reinsurance Limited was opened by the Bank after its partnership with other banks, in 2000. The Bank also bought the teller terminal system from the IBM China/Hong Kong, in 2001. This enhanced the insurance operation of the Bank to a large extent. In the same year, the Wing Lung Bank Hong Kong established the Wealth Management Centre for the purpose of expanding the wealth management services of the Bank. In 2002, the paid-up capital of the Wing Lung Bank increased manifold, taking the total assets to HK$ 61.7 billion. The Bank celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2003, while 2004 witnessed the declaration of the Wing Lung Bank as the first Hong Kong based bank by the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

This announcement followed the execution of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement or the CEPA. The Bank was recognized as being the very first one in Shenzhen that offered loans, foreign currency deposits, trade finance services and remittances. The same year saw the beginning of the renminbi services. In the year 2005, a sub-branch of the Wing Lung Bank Hong Kong was set up at Nanshan in Shenzhen and on the 31st of December, 2005, the total assets of the Bank became HK$ 4.7 billion. The total assets of the bank became HK$ 85 billion in 2006.

At present, there are 41 offices of the Wing Lung Bank Hong Kong and the a total number of staffs working with the Bank have exceeded 1,400. Some of the services that are on offer by the Wing Lung Bank include the following: