CaixaBank receives the “Corporate Dragon" award from the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in China

• The Chamber recognises CaixaBank’s work towards improving business relations, investment and cooperation between the two countries.
• This award is the highest annual distinction given by the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in China.
• CaixaBank has been present in China for 11 years and operates from its three representative offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The presentation of the award coincides with the tenth anniversary of the Shanghai branch.

CaixaBank has received the “Corporate Dragon” award from the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in China, the highest annual distinction awarded by the institution.Celebrating its seventh edition this year, the award recognises the journey and achievements of companies and institutions in the field of business relations, investment and cooperation between Spain and China.This is the first time that a bank has received the award.

The Spanish Ambassador in China and Mongolia, Rafael Dezcallar of Mazarredo, was tasked with preenting the award to Xavier Serrado, CaixaBank’s Asia Regional Manager, in a meeting of the Chamber in Beijing. For Serrado, “the Corporate Dragon award is a recognition of more than 11 years of CaixaBank’s presence in China and of our firm commitment to the Asian continent in our internationalisation process, with the aim of offering the best service and added-value advisory for our clients”.

China gave CaixaBank it’s ticket into the Asian continent with the opening of the representative office in Beijing in 2008. Three years later the company inaugurated the Shanghai office, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year; and in 2017, the Hong Kong office. Additionally, CaixaBank has other branches in Asia, including one in Singapore that opened in 2010.

CaixaBank in China

CaixaBank has been present in China since 2008 and has three representative offices. The company has consolidated itself as one of the leading banks for Spanish companies looking to bring their business to the Asian continent.

From its representative offices in China, CaixaBank offers advisory and support to Spanish companies with interests in China and to Chinese companies that export, buy or invest in Spain.

Among their main functions, CaixaBank’s representative offices in China work to maximise communication with local financial institutions in order to lend support to the activities of CaixaBank clients in the country, whether working in foreign trade, investments or direct deployment projects.

In China, CaixaBank maintains a strategic alliance with Bank of East Asia (BEA), which makes its operational branches in the Chinese market available to CaixaBank clients. Together with BEA and Brilliance, a local car manufacturer, CaixaBank operates a car financing company in China.

Last year, CaixaBank took its international debate programme “Diversity Talks”—created to promote reflection on diversity and business management—to China. The company brought together female executives in Shanghai to discuss business relations between China and Spain.

China, a market full of opportunities

China is a country full of opportunities thanks to its robust economic growth. In 2018, China’s economy grew by 6.6% and, according to estimates by CaixaBank Research, will continue growing at a remarkable pace—above 6%—over the next two years.

With 69 points on the CaixaBank Index for Business Internationalisation (ICIE), China is the 14th most attractive country for the internationalisation of the Spanish companies among the analysed countries and is the highest-scoring country in its region. Among its advantages, its commercial attractiveness, favourable financial environment and enormous capacity for innovation stand out.

According to data from the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX), in 2018, exports of Spanish goods to China increased by 5.9% with respect to the previous year, reaching 6.2 billion euros. This makes China the tenth most important destination for Spanish exports and the thrid most important outside the EU, behind the United States and Morocco.Spanish companies sell mostly copper and its alloys; automotive equipment, components and parts; meat; and medicine.

Furthermore, China is the world’s third-largest exporter to Spain. Spanish imports from China increased by 4.2% year-on-year in 2018, totalling 26.9 billion euros. The main imported products were telecommunications equipment, data and information processing machines and games and toys.

CaixaBank’s international presence

CaixaBank manifests its international presence through its operational branches, offices that foster representation and cooperation agreements with international banks. Currently, CaixaBank has branches in the United Kingdom (London), Germany (Frankfurt), France (Paris), Poland, (Warsaw) and Morocco (Casablanca, Agadir and Tangier).

The bank also has 18 representative offices spread across the five continents: Milan (Italy), Istanbul (Turkey), Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong (China), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), New Delhi (India), Cairo (Egypt), Santiago de Chile (Chile), Bogotá (Colombia), New York (USA), Singapore, Johannesburg (South Africa), São Paulo (Brazil), Algiers (Algeria), Lima (Peru), Sidney (Australia) and Toronto (Canada).

Similarly, CaixaBank holds agreements with international banks, making it easier for companies and individuals from any country in the world to engage in international transactions and foreign trade. In addition, it controls 100% of Portuguese bank BPI and has a 9.92% share in Austrian bank Erste Bank.

CaixaBank was also the first financial institution in Europe to obtain the AENOR certificate for its financial services and customer care in International Banking.