Not deterred by official clampdowns on lending to Chinese property projects, Hypo Real Estate Bank International opened its first Hong Kong branch this week, having received its restricted wholesale banking license. The branch is being run by Gerhard Hinterhauaser with 22 other staff. Hong Kong is the second Asian branch to be opened this year, after the bank opened an office in Tokyo in July.
The Hong Kong branch will focus squarely on sourcing mainland China property deals to which the bank can lend. The bank's opening in China is driven by our future view of a continuously growing economy and continuously growing importance of real estate in that economy, says...
