【英语国际】中资银行放贷新市场：美国

When GE Capital exited from the U.S. government's bailout program last year, it quickly found a new financial backer: a Chinese bank.

In December, cash-rich Industrial & Commercial Bank of China made a three-year, $400 million loan to the General Electric Co. unit, its first from a Chinese lender. 'We like banks that have global aspirations and that can work with us in all markets,' says Kathryn Cassidy, senior vice president and treasurer at GE.

It also helped that ICBC opened an office in Manhattan in October 2008. Hungry for business in the world's largest economy, three of the largest Chinese banks have received approval from the Federal Reserve to open U.S. outposts since the financial crisis erupted.

'We arrived at the darkest moment,' says Wu Bin, ICBC's general manager in New York. The bank has a 10-year lease for the entire 20th floor of Trump Tower, a skyscraper next door to luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co.'s flagship store on Fifth Avenue. When the office opened its doors, ICBC invited GE officials to visit. Among those who came was Ms. Cassidy.

The U.S. is undergoing a mini-invasion by banks based elsewhere that generally avoided the disastrous boom-era loans and investments made by many U.S. financial institutions. Chinese banks are in a particularly strong position for U.S. growth, despite their limited name recognition.

ICBC is 70%-owned by the Chinese government and became the world's most profitable bank during the crisis. With about $1.8 trillion in assets, ICBC is roughly 25% smaller than Bank of America Corp. The Charlotte, N.C., company is the largest U.S. bank by assets and owns an 11% stake in China Construction Bank. ICBC earned a whopping $19 billion last year, compared with $6.3 billion at Bank of America.

The growth appetite at China's major banks, especially for corporate loans, is in stark contrast to the reluctance of many U.S.-based banks to stick their necks out by extending new credit at a time when the economy is struggling, loan losses remain high and the specter of tougher government regulations and higher capital requirements is looming.

Bank of Communications, China's fifth-largest lender by assets, reported that its U.S. assets soared 55% to $1.4 billion last year. The bank has had a U.S. presence since 1991. Bank of China, which entered the U.S. in 1981 and is the third-largest bank in China, says its loans outstanding in the U.S. increased about 50% in 2009. Bank of China plans to open another branch soon.

China Construction Bank, which opened an office in Midtown Manhattan in June 2009, has since increased its U.S. asset base to about $370 million. China Merchants Bank got about $200 million in the year after its New York branch opened in October 2008. CCB is the second-largest Chinese lender by assets, while China Merchants Bank ranks sixth.

Chinese bank officials say they are taking a relatively conservative approach and focusing on plain-vanilla deals such as loans and deposits from companies. The strategy could position them well with U.S. companies that are looking for alternative financing sources in the cash-stricken market or to spread risk among a more diverse spectrum of lenders.

Except for Bank of China, other banks aren't allowed by the Fed to gather deposits from retail customers or make acquisitions in the U.S. because of concerns about the Chinese government's bank supervision.

ICBC's U.S. assets have increased to more than $1 billion from basically zero since the bank opened its New York office. The relationship with GE stretched back to China, where ICBC provided the company with some backup credit lines. At the end of last year, GE Capital's overall net debt level was $425 billion.

The Chinese bank's lending customers in the U.S. also include Dell Inc., United Parcel Service Inc., Southwest Airlines Co. and Harvard University.

The office is a display of mixed cultures. A framed Chinese calligraphy scroll in the 43-year-old Mr. Wu's office says: 'Crouching Dragon Listening to Waves.' At a trading desk nearby with dozens of blinking computer monitors, staffers buy and sell U.S. Treasury bonds for ICBC. Most of the 44 employees were hired in recent months. A quarter of the branch's employees are non-Chinese.

ICBC says it uses a 'top-down' approach to identify potential U.S. clients. Bankers focus on 'industry leaders' among the 500 largest U.S. companies by revenue, as well as those with a presence in China and a strong credit rating. ICBC is staying away from exotic products like derivatives because 'we are unable to see through the risks,' Mr. Wu says.

Chinese banks also are reaping profits by financing moves by Chinese companies to scoop up distressed assets in the U.S. or increase the size of their business in the country. In December, ICBC helped fund the $307 million purchase of a 50% stake in Interstate Hotels & Resorts Inc., a hotel-management company in Arlington, Va., by Shanghai Jinjiang International Hotels. In March, China Merchants Bank helped China National Petroleum Corp. in its partial acquisition of ION Geophysical Corp., by refinancing the Houston-based seismic solution provider to energy companies with a total of $206 million.

In some ways, though, ICBC still is learning the ropes in the U.S. During last year's takeover of drug maker Wyeth by Pfizer Inc., Mr. Wu promised to extend a $325 million credit line to Pfizer.

The bank was geared up to hand over the money when it found out that Pfizer canceled the deal because it had raised what it needed by issuing bonds.

'In China, if a company says they want to borrow, they borrow,' Mr. Wu says. The episode taught him how sophisticated the U.S. financial markets are and the resourcefulness of companies in tapping various funding sources, he says.

Among other non-U.S.-based banks, Toronto-Dominion Bank of Canada and Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. have bought failed lenders in a bid to expand their retail-banking operations in the U.S. Barclays PLC, Credit Suisse Group and Deutsche Bank AG have increased their U.S. market shares in debt underwriting and advising on mergers and acquisitions recently.

通用金融(GE Capital)去年退出美国政府的救援计划时，很快又找到了新的财务支持者：一家中资银行。

2009年12月，现金充裕的中国工商银行(Industrial & Commercial Bank of China)为通用电气(General Electric Co.)的这家子公司提供了一笔为期三年、额度为四亿美元的贷款。这是通用金融第一次从中资机构获得贷款。通用电气高级副总裁兼首席财务长卡西迪(Kathryn Cassidy)说，我们喜欢具有全球抱负并能与我们在所有市场合作的银行。

2008年10月，工商银行在纽约曼哈顿开设分行，也给通用金融带来了帮助。自金融危机爆发以来，已经有三家渴求在世界最大经济体开展业务的大型中资银行获得美联储(Federal Reserve)批准，可以在美国设立分行。

Brian Harkin for The Wall Street Journal工商银行纽约分行总经理吴斌工商银行纽约分行总经理吴斌说，我们是在最晦暗的时候到来的。工商银行租下了特朗普大厦(Trump Tower)的整个第20层，租期为10年，大厦隔壁就是高档珠宝商Tiffany & Co.在第五大道的旗舰店。分行开业时，工商银行邀请通用电气的官员来访，卡西迪就是来宾之一。

外国银行正在对美国市场发起一场小规模的进攻。在繁荣时期，它们普遍没有像很多美国金融机构那样放贷和投资，因而得以幸免于灾难性的后果。中资银行虽然品牌认知度不高，但它们在美国市场实现扩张的条件尤为有利。

工商银行由中国政府持股70%，在金融危机期间成为世界盈利能力最强的银行。它的资产规模约为1.8万亿美元，比美国银行(Bank of America Corp.)低25%左右。美国银行总部位于北卡罗来纳州夏洛特市，是美国资产规模最大的银行，持有中国建设银行(China Construction Bank)11%的股份。去年工商银行盈利达190亿美元，相比之下美国银行的利润只有63亿美元。

在经济仍旧困难、贷款损失高企、政府加强监管并提高资本金要求的阴云越来越近之时，美国很多银行都不愿意冒着风险发放新的贷款，而中国大银行的扩张欲望，特别是在公司贷款领域的扩张欲望，和它们形成了鲜明的对照。

中国资产规模居第五的银行交通银行(Bank of Communications)报告说，去年其美国资产飙升55%，达到14亿美元。交通银行登陆美国是在1991年。1981年进入美国、在中国国内排第三的中国银行(Bank of China)说，2009年，它在美国的贷款余额大约增长50%。中国银行计划于不久之后再开一家分支机构。

中国建设银行自2009年6月在曼哈顿中城开设分行以来，其美国资产规模已增长至约3.7亿美元。招商银行(China Merchants Bank)在2008年10月开设纽约分行后的一年里取得了约两亿美元的资产。建设银行、招商银行的资产规模分别位居中国第二和第六位。

中资银行官员们说，他们采用的是一种相对保守的方针，集中于公司存贷款这样的最基本业务。中资银行依靠这种策略，有望在美国企业界找到一个很好的立足点，因为美国企业正在现金紧缺的市场里寻找替代性的融资来源，或者是在寻求把风险分散到一群更加多元的银行身上。

除中国银行外，美联储不允许其他银行从事个人用户存款业务或在美国进行并购交易，因为他们对中国政府的银行监管规定心存顾虑。

自工商银行在纽约开设了分支机构以来，该行在美国的资产已经从基本为零增长到了10多亿美元。工商银行与通用电气的关系可以追溯回中国，在中国，工商银行曾为通用电气提供了一些备用的信贷额度。截至去年底，通用金融净负债总额为4,250亿美元。

工商银行在美国的贷款用户还包括戴尔(Dell Inc.)、联合包裹运送服务公司(United Parcel Service Inc.)、美国西南航空(Southwest Airlines Co.)和哈佛大学。

该行纽约分支机构显示出了不同文化的融合。43岁的吴斌的办公室里挂着一幅中国书法卷轴，上书：卧龙听涛。附近就是一个交易部门，里面有十几个闪烁着的电脑屏幕，工作人员在那里为工商银行买卖美国国债。44名员工中大部分是在近几个月被雇佣的。该分支机构员工中有四分之一是外国人。

工商银行说，该行通过“自上而下”的方式来确定潜在的美国客户。银行家们专注于500家收入最高的美国企业中的“行业领头羊”，以及在中国开展业务和信用评级很高的公司。吴斌说，工商银行没有涉足衍生品等奇特产品，因为我们无法看透风险。

中国企业在收购财务困难的美国资产或扩大在美业务时，中资银行还通过为其提供资金而获利。去年12月，在上海锦江国际酒店发展股份有限公司斥资3.07亿美元收购弗吉尼亚酒店管理公司Interstate Hotels & Resorts Inc. 50%股权的交易中，工商银行为其提供了资金。今年3月，招商银行为中国石油天然气集团公司收购ION Geophysical Corp.部分股权提供了帮助，该行为这家位于休斯顿的能源公司地震解决方案提供商提供了2.06亿美元的再融资。

不过，从某些方面讲，工商银行仍在美国进行摸索。在去年辉瑞制药有限公司(Pfizer Inc.)收购惠氏(Wyeth)的交易中，吴斌承诺向辉瑞提供3.25亿美元的信贷额度。

就在工商银行准备兑现承诺提供贷款之际，却发现辉瑞取消了交易，因为该公司通过发债筹集到了所需的资金。

吴斌说，在中国，如果一家公司说他们希望贷款，他们就会贷款。他说，这件事让他明白了美国金融市场的复杂性以及企业在利用各类融资来源方面的足智多谋。

在其他非美国银行中，加拿大道明银行(Toronto-Dominion Bank)和日本三菱UFJ金融集团(Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.)都曾收购倒闭的放贷机构，以便扩大自身在美国的零售银行业务。巴克莱(Barclays PLC)、瑞士信贷集团(Credit Suisse Group)和德意志银行(Deutsche Bank AG)最近增加了在美国债务承销和并购咨询服务方面的市场占有率。