Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) is preparing to open a representative office in Shanghai. Sources inform ''Globes'' that the bank, headed by president and CEO Rakefet Russak-Aminoach, has appointed Eyal Shimoni to head the office, and that he will depart shortly to oversee developments and obtain permits.
Bank Leumi said in response, "As we have announced before, Bank Leumi reviews options and is seeking to expand its operations in the Far East in general, and in China in particular. This activity requires permits from the relevant Chinese regulators. If and when the permits to allow the activity are obtained, we will announce it as required."
Bank Leumi's strategy is based on "follow your customer", which chairman David Brodet describes as "when the customer turns to us, the bank is with him." The bank has extensive international operations, including branches in the US, UK, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Romania, and representative offices around the world. The bank's foreign operations generated $47.5 million in profits in 2011.
However, Bank Leumi's presence in the Far East is limited, with only one representative office in Hong Kong. "As activity in the Far East increases, Bank Leumi will increase its coverage of this part of the world in order to continue to service its customers," Brodet told the Israel Business Conference two years ago.
Since then, Bank Leumi has considered deepening its Far Eastern operations, and, a few months ago, Brodet announced that it intended to open a representative office in Shanghai, as part of the global banking trend to expand operations in the Far East, where the future of the financial world lies.
The opening of the Shanghai representative office is part of the restructuring at Bank Leumi that Russak-Aminoach announced a month ago. The bank abolished its private banking and international banking departments and its international private banking operations were transferred to the banking department, and Avner Mendelson, a personal aid of former CEO Galia Maor, took over the international commercial banking department.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 5, 2012
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