OREANDA-NEWS. January 16, 2015. After more than six months of remodeling, Agricultural Bank of China Limited (ABC) officially launched the Shanghai Management Department and placed  the Shanghai ABC Building into service.

 Five institutions of ABC’s Head Office in Shanghai, including ABC Financial Leasing Co., ABC-CA Fund Management Co., Ltd. and Bills Business Department, and Shanghai Branch will move into the building.

According to a principal of ABC Shanghai Management Department, the establishment of Shanghai Management Department is an important measure taken by ABC to actively implement the central government's series of important decisions. The Department will accelerate construction of Shanghai international financial center and the Free Trade Zone (FTZ), and strongly support and serve Shanghai’s new round of economic and financial reform and development strategy. Meanwhile, based on this, it can further promote optimization in regional policy and new development of urban business.

As an international economic, financial and trade center, Shanghai shows obvious characteristics of headquarter economy and industrial concentration. Many domestic and international financial institutions cluster in Shanghai. A forward-thinking policy environment, infrastructure and market forms for the development of financial service are characteristic of Shanghai. Good growth prospects continually attract commercial banks to Shanghai After nearly a decade of continuous development, ABC has set up 10 institutions in Shanghai with more than 4,000 employees. Assets operated and managed by these institutions amount to nearly RMB1 trillion.

Among commercial banks whose headquarters are not located in Shanghai, ABC has the most institutions in Shanghai. Shanghai is also ABC’s earliest and most concentrated Head Office outside of Beijing.

The establishment of Shanghai Management Department will bring three new  major opportunities for ABC’s business development in Shanghai. The first is the environment growth space. Shanghai Management Department will, on behalf of the Head Office; centralize information communication and policy coordination between its institutions in Shanghai and local Party and government departments. It will make overall plans for promotion and image building in Shanghai in a unified manner, and give play to the role of regional outsourcing and main channel for external connection. Further, the Department will create a sustainable and healthy “ financial ecosystem” for regulators, the public and the market, for the development of its institutions and businesses.

The second is the space for resources integration. Shanghai Management Department serves as a coordinating body for ABC's interactive regional market business development. It will integrate innovative advances, professional advantages and information resources of its institutions in Shanghai to research regional financial policy, competitive environment, and business strategy. Therefore, it can promote joint marketing among markets, departments and institutions, boost key project development and explore new business areas. It will also penetrate deeper into the market, be more responsive to competition, and develop more accurate strategies.
The third is the space for efficiency promotion.

As the Head Office's management and coordinating department, Shanghai Management Department will give play to the advantages as a resident agency to assist its local institutions and Shanghai Branch in deeply inspecting market and customer demands. In particular, it will help them in researching strategies for FTZ business development. It will properly coordinate, manage and support departments to carry out adaptive adjustment of regional and business line policies so as to enhance management efficiency.

Prospective strategic layout and a decade of hard work lead to great progress. It is foreseeable that the Shanghai Management Department will boost the comprehensive, internationalized, and brand development of ABC’s businesses in Shanghai. The market image of ABC institutions in Shanghai, namely, “soundness, innovation, efficiency and development” will become much more focused. Its position as a regional mainstream bank will become increasing important.