The venture, in which CCB will hold 60% stake and Santander the remaining, is yet to be formally signed by the two parties and approved by the Chinese regulators. The venture is expected to focus on rural banking and automobile finance.
However, it is not clear how profitable Chinese rural banking will be, even though Beijing has encouraged local and overseas banks to extend services to millions of rural citizens who have no access to financial services. Earlier, in an interview to the newspaper, Alfredo Sáenz, CEO of Santander, said: “A big jump from Spain to China or Thailand or Hong Kong or Singapore is, as they say in the circus, a triple death jump without a safety net.”
