外资银行启动人民币业务 住房贷款首次亮相

4月23日，渣打、东亚、花旗、汇丰四家外资银行将首次启动针对我国本地居民的全面人民币业务。外资银行向本地居民提供的服务包括，人民币、外币存款，外币住房按揭贷款，外币理财产品，以及即将陆续推出的一系列人民币投资理财产品和人民币保险代销等服务。

Four foreign banks will provide retail¹ yuan services to people across China from today.

HSBC, Citigroup, Standard Chartered Bank and the Bank of East Asia passed the regulator's audit² last Thursday and now have unlimited³ access to the country's $2-trillion domestic household savings⁴.

The banks, however, have said they mainly intend to promote wealth management services and target China's wealthier customers.

Domestic lenders, trying to fend⁵ off competition in the retail market, are also stepping up their efforts to courthigher-end customerswith services such as private banking⁶.

The four overseas institutions have more than 100 outlets⁷ across China. They said over the weekend that their Shanghai branches would offer full yuan services from today while others are expected to do so shortly.

"It's an important milestone⁸ in our bank's development and a significant beginning for us to provide full banking service to large numbers of domestic residents," said Yu Xueqiang, head of Bank of East Asia's China business.

In addition to wealth management, the four banks can now provide a wide range of services, includingmortgage loans.

They could also expand their funding sources for corporate⁹ banking business by gaining access to personal savings and inter-bank borrowing.

The four banks, however, have fewer branches than their established domestic rivals. As such, they plan to highlight theirwealth management servicesand target high-end customers by requiring high minimums.

Standard Chartered said it would roll out various renminbi products for customers under two retail brands - Priority Banking and Excel Banking.

HSBC will concentrate on its Premier¹⁰ Wealth Management service for its retail banking business and charge 300 yuan a month to handle accounts with less than 500,000 yuan.

Last week, Citigroup became the first foreign bank in China to offer a yuan-denominated investment linked insurance product.

Vocabulary:    

higher-end customer:高端用户

mortgage loans：按揭贷款

wealth management service：理财业务