Shanghai Commercial Bank

Historically, the Shanghai Commercial Bank was founded in Shanghai in 1915 under the leadership of K.P. Chen (1881–1976), a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Finance. In 1927, the Shanghai Commercial Bank established a travel service division, which later became the independent China Travel Service. The bank expanded in the late 1920s and early 1930s, endured the period of Japanese aggression, but suffered significant set-backs during the Chinese Civil War.

In 1950, with the new Communist government intent on nationalising the banking industry in mainland China, the Hong Kong branch of the Shanghai Commercial Bank was separately incorporated in Hong Kong as the Shanghai Commercial Bank. The bank's assets in mainland China were compulsorily acquired by the government. In 1954, the bank was permitted to re-register in Taiwan as the Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank (SCSB), retaining a majority shareholding in the Hong Kong bank. Both parts of the bank, in Hong Kong and Taiwan, rebuilt themselves from the 1960s-1980s as both economies prospered.

In 1995, the Shanghai City Credit Union in mainland China was converted to a bank, the Shanghai City Cooperative Bank, which was subsequently renamed the Bank of Shanghai. The SCB has acquired a 3% stake in the Bank of Shanghai, symbolically re-establishing its link to banking in Shanghai.

In 2011, the three "Banks of Shanghai" entered into a cooperation agreement. The link between the three banks is emphasised in some marketing materials, with the slogan "Bank of Shanghai in 3 regions on both sides of the Strait".

In 2008, SCB bought the CNAC Group building at 10 Queen's Road Central, adjacent to its then headquarters building for further expansion. The purchase of CNAC building costed HK$1.388 billion for gross area of 70,00 square feet, and SCB intended to invest another 500 to 600 HKD Million to redevelop it along with the building at 12 Queen's Road Central as the new headquarters tower.[1] The expected gross space will increase to 140,000 square feet.

The new tower opened in Sep 2016 including opening of its flagship retail branch at the basement of the tower.[2]

The Shanghai Commercial Bank offers corporate and retail banking services and products including deposits, loans, remittances, foreign exchange, trade finance, securities trading, wealth management services, credit cards, and insurance, amongst others. The bank also offers telephone banking and electronic banking services as a fast and convenient means to serve individual and corporate clients respectively. Moreover, the Bank has been issuing floating rate certificates of deposit which were well received by the market since early 1994.

At present, Shanghai Commercial Bank has over 50 branches across Hong Kong, China, United Kingdom and United States.[3]

SCB was one of the founding banks of JETCO, the Joint Electronic Tellers Services Limited Network back in 1982.[10] The other founding banks were Hong Kong Branch of the Bank of China (now Bank of China (Hong Kong)), the Bank of East Asia, Chekiang First Bank and Wing Lung Bank.[11] JETCO is a peer competitor to another ATM network formed by HSBC and Hang Seng Bank.

In December 2015, SCB started using behavioral analytics solution to enhance its digital banking strategy to facilitate an O2O (online-to-offline) operating model. This technology was expected to allow SCB to gain a better understanding of its consumer banking and SME customers, and to create more personalized e-Banking services and marketing campaigns.[12]

• Official site, Hong Kong