other financial services in recent years. It has Hong Kong's biggest branch network (over 200 branches) and 450 automatic teller machines.

BOCHK is the biggest mortgage lender in Hong Kong in the secondary market; Hang Seng Bank is the biggest in the primary market. BOCHK resells the casualty insurance, life insurance, mandatory provident fund (MPF) and asset management services of various subsidiaries of its parent, Bank of China.

Within Mainland China, BOCHK operates 14 branches (as of January 2005) separately from its parent. BOCHK is treated as a foreign bank, more properly, 境外銀行 (banks outside of the territory), for regulatory purposes as it is incorporated in Hong Kong.

Renminbi clearing bank

BOCHK has been the designated clearing bank for personal transactions involving the Renminbi (RMB, the currency of Mainland China) in HongKong since February 2004. This means that BOCHK acts as a settlement agent for RMB banknotes and funds in Hong Kong and an intermediary between banks in Hong Kong and the People's Bank of China, the central bank of the People's Republic of China. In return, BOCHK takes a 0.125% cut of all RMB deposits in Hong Kong that are repatriated back to Mainland China.

The Chief Executive of Hong Kong announced on 18 November 2003 that the People's Bank of China had agreed to provide clearing arrangements, marking for the first time that the Renminbi, which is fully on the current account but not on the capital account, has been allowed to clear outside of Mainland China. The scope of such RMB business includes deposit-taking, exchange, remittances and