You founded the Bank of Shanghai thirty years ago, could you briefly walk us through that history ?
Bank of Shanghai was founded in 1995 as “Shanghai City United Bank”, born from the merger of 99 City Credit Cooperatives in Shanghai. It was renamed “Bank of Shanghai” (BOS) in 1998, then listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2016. Today, BOS has 300 sub-branches in mainland China, two subsidiaries in Hong Kong, an asset management subsidiary and a wealth management subsidiary in Shanghai. By the end of Q3 2025, the Bank’s total assets reached 3.31 trillion RMB.
BOS is also one of the first financial institutions to have introduced foreign shareholders, how did that come about ?
Indeed, it is one of our defining characteristics. As early as 1999 and 2001, we successively welcomed IFC and then HSBC as shareholders. Since 2014, Banco Santander has become our largest foreign shareholder, holding 6.54% of our shares. To date, BOS has established correspondent relationships with over 1,200 banks across 111 countries and regions worldwide, and we have built strategic partnerships with major local banks in Europe, the Americas, and Southeast Asia.
What would you say was the defining moment of your international development ?
The partnership with Banco Santander in 2014. This collaboration goes far beyond a simple equity stake: we work together on connectivity, business development, innovation, and knowledge exchange (spanning corporate banking, retail banking, financial markets, and technological innovation).
Santander even set up a dedicated team stationed directly at our Shanghai headquarters, while we established a specialized International Desk on our end. Together, we have hosted seminars on cross-border business related to the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as client-matching events at the China International Import Expo.
There was also, in 2000, the formation of the “Bank of Shanghai” alliance bringing together Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, a strategic partnership serving clients across all three regions. It was through this alliance that we achieved the first cross-regional syndicated loan among Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, as well as the first offshore syndicated direct loan for enterprises in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.
Could you give us a concrete example of a client you have successfully supported internationally ?
Take the case of a smart-terminal provider: a company that concentrates all of its production capacity in China, while focusing its commercial efforts entirely on the global market. With a clear upward growth trajectory, the company urgently needed a bank capable of providing both domestic and cross-border supply chain service solutions. We promptly offered “BOS E-Chain”, our flagship online supply chain financing product, which addresses the financing needs of both upstream suppliers and downstream buyers on both the procurement and sales sides. This is precisely the kind of integrated solution the market was lacking: existing offerings were too fragmented, poorly coordinated, and the communication costs of dealing with multiple banks were far too high.
What have been your main challenges in this international expansion ?
Our primary constraint is regulatory: BOS currently has no overseas branches, which means we cannot obtain first-hand information on local laws, financial policies, market developments, or corporate operating conditions in a timely manner. To address this, we rely on global consulting firms such as Altios, to access the latest insights on international markets. This is a collaboration we consider essential, and one we are keen to deepen.
How do you see the international landscape evolving for your SME and mid-market clients in the years ahead ?
The paradigm has fundamentally shifted. Thinking of internationalization as a simple commercial expansion abroad is an outdated mindset. Companies that want to survive and thrive must undertake a deep transformation across three dimensions.
The first is rebuilding supply chain resilience: the shift must go from global single-point optimization toward a more regionalized and built-in redundancies approach. Nearshoring and regionalization are no longer options, they are necessities.
The second dimension is ESG. It is no longer a moral bonus or a communication tool: it has become a mandatory condition for market access. Companies must take it seriously, including by actively leveraging the financial instruments banks offer for this purpose, such as Sustainability-Linked Loans.
The third dimension is digital transformation and artificial intelligence. Traditional digital workflows are no longer sufficient. The transition must be made toward ecosystems driven by AI Agents, capable of managing complex decision-making and meeting growing regulatory compliance requirements.
In this context, which model of internationalization would you recommend as a priority ?
Commercial partnerships. It is the most agile model and the most suited to today’s environment. A partner like Altios can, for instance, continuously provide reliable information and advisory support for our cross-border interbank cooperation and future international clients. It can also leverage its matchmaking capabilities to facilitate mutual understanding and collaboration between domestic Chinese banks and mid-sized enterprises abroad.
Finally, what skills will be decisive for international success tomorrow ?
The international success of a bank will no longer be measured by the number of overseas branches opened or multilingual staff recruited. With the profound evolution of AI, the on-chain economy, and geopolitical landscapes, the core competencies for global success have fundamentally shifted. What makes the difference today is a sophisticated synthesis of digitization, cultural agility, and technological governance. Traditional financial engineering remains necessary, but it is no longer enough.
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