The €300 million bond is the Chinese bank’s first-ever listed Euro-denominated bond. The Ring the Bell ceremony took place at the Luxembourg Stock Exchange in the presence of H.E. Mr Huang Changqing, the Chinese Ambassador to Luxembourg.

“We welcome this new listing by China Merchants Bank. It is an excellent illustration of the increased scope of cooperation and activity between Chinese banks and European capital markets, and we are proud to be part of this new chapter,” commented Robert Scharfe, CEO of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

The 3-year fixed-rate bond is issued under China Merchants Bank’s US$5 billion Medium Term Note Programme, and was listed on LuxSE’s Euro MTF market on 20 June.

“This new bond issuance speaks of our global ambitions. In the future, green and sustainable assets financing and the Belt and Road Initiative are going to be the fields that we will continuously expand and develop. Given Luxembourg’s leading position at the intersection between Chinese and European capital markets, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange was a natural choice,” stated Biao Li, CEO of China Merchants Bank’s Luxembourg branch.

In 2016, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and China Merchants Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding and agreed to cooperate on listing and trading activities of securities issued by China Merchants Bank and its clients.

Exponential growth

China Merchants Bank was established in 1987 in Shenzhen and is China’s first joint-stock commercial bank wholly owned by corporate legal entities. Since its inception, CMB has grown exponentially and now counts more than 1,200 branches and approximately 70,000 employees.

China Merchants Bank Luxembourg Branch was established in 2015, and acts as the bank’s European headquarters. It provides a range of financial products and services to corporate and private customers across Europe and in China.