HSBC has opened a sub-branch in Beijing, becoming the first foreign bank to open a sub-branch in China’s capital city.

HSBC obtained regulatory approval to open a sub-branch in Beijing in December 2004. Located at the China World Shopping Mall, the new HSBC sub-branch occupies an area of about 560 square metres and offers a full range of banking services, including renminbi and foreign currency services to local and international companies, foreign nationals and residents of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and foreign currency services to mainland China residents.

HSBC opened a representative office in Beijing in 1980, its first following mainland China’s introduction of the “open door “policy in the late 1970s. The office was upgraded into a full service branch in 1995. HSBC became the first foreign bank to offer renminbi services at its Beijing branch on March 18, 2005.