Bank of East Asia

Clear2Pay, the international provider of payment solutions for financial institutions, reported that its Open Payment Framework technology is at the core of the Enterprise Services Bus (ESB) that has gone live at Bank of East Asia (BEA) in Shenzhen to support its entire business in China.

The number of U.S.-dollar millionaires in China is expected to nearly double in five years, luring private bankers eager to help them invest an expected combined wealth over $7.6 trillion by 2013, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said on Thursday.

Global wealth declined last year for the first time since 2001, the consultancy said, but the number of Chinese individuals with household financial wealth of more than $1 million may grow to 788,000 by 2013 from 417,000 in 2008.

The fact that Chinese banks have issued more than 1.8 billion bank cards has grabbed the attention of foreign banks.

Bank of East Asia has become the first overseas bank to issue yuan-denominated credit cards in China independently. In order to attract customers the bank has left application procedures almost the same as with domestic lenders, setting annual fees and other commissions at the rates of 20–30% higher, and abstaining from the annual fee for the first year. Moreover, the Bank of East Asia is offering free on-line banking as well.