For Immediate Release
PRESS RELEASE
China Merchants Bank Connects to CHIPS for Wire Payments
Leading Commercial Bank Is Latest Institution To Participate
New York, N.Y., May 19, 2009 – China Merchants Bank, the first Chinese bank to establish a branch in the United States, is now using CHIPS, the real-time, large-dollar payments system operated by The Clearing House Payments Company.
“China Merchants Bank is linking to CHIPS because of its proven capability to clear and settle payments quickly, securely and at low cost,” said Hui Fang, General Manager of China Merchants Bank’s New York Branch. “CHIPS enables China Merchants Bank to meet the growing international needs of its customers.”
CHIPS (www.chips.org) is the world’s premier private-sector USD wire transfer system. CHIPS streamlines operations for financial institutions, with features such as multilateral netting — a patented process that maximizes the use of liquidity without daylight overdraft charges. A single dollar in the CHIPS system turns over on average 500 times a day and is used by the netting process to clear payments throughout the day.
China Merchants Bank is the third international bank to connect to CHIPS in the past year.
“By connecting to the world’s premier, private sector wire transfer system, China Merchants Bank will have the opportunity to maximize liquidity and serve the needs of its business customers in a completely secure environment,” said Hank Farrar, Senior Vice President of The Clearing House, responsible for CHIPS. “Continual expansion of participation in CHIPS by highly regarded global banks reinforces CHIPS’ position as the payment system of choice for USD payments, both domestically and globally. Especially in today’s business environment, The Clearing House continues to show its customers that it is focused on helping them maximize revenue and minimize costs.”
For more information about CHIPS, contact Bill Walsh, Vice President, 212.613.9860, Bill.Walsh@CHIPS.org.
About China Merchants Bank
China Merchants Bank was founded in 1987 with its head office in Shenzhen, China. As of 31 December 2008, the China Merchants Bank had 668 branches and offices, 1,567 self-service banking centers and a wholly owned subsidiary CMB Financial Leasing Company Limited in Mainland China. The Company owns two subsidiaries, namely, Wing Lung Bank Limited and CMB International Capital Corporation Limited, and a branch in Hong Kong. It has a branch and a representative office in New York. As of 31 December 2008, the total assets of China Merchants Bank was RMB1,572 billion. China Merchants Bank ranks sixth among commercial banks in China in terms of total assets. China Merchants Bank attaches importance to preventing risks, and thus its asset quality continues to improve. According to the “five-category” loan classification system of the People’s Bank of China, it is one of the best banks in China in terms of asset quality.
The Clearing House and CHIPS
Formed by banks more than 150 years ago, The Clearing House operates payment systems infrastructure and facilitates forums for the U.S. banking industry. The Clearing House clears and settles more than 40 million check and electronic payments with a value of $2.4 trillion each day for financial institutions in the U.S. and around the world. The Clearing House's strategic forum brings together financial institutions to discuss and take action on payments industry issues, while its bank association addresses legal and regulatory matters of critical importance to its members. CHIPS (www.chips.org) provides real-time, final payments to the largest financial institutions on behalf of their customers in the U.S. and around the world. It features multilateral netting with payments finality — a patented process that maximizes the use of liquidity — and supports the inclusion of large amounts of invoice information with payments in universally accepted standards. For more information, visit www.theclearinghouse.org.
CHIPS Media Contacts
Chip Savidge, Office: 336.769.5321, Mobile: 917.576.0957, chip.savidge@theclearinghouse.org
Greg Berardi, Office: 415.239.7826, Mobile: 415.672.2377, greg@bluemarlinpartners.com
