The new entity, Chinalco Treasury Management Co Ltd, will centrally manage the group’s offshore funds and handle offshore financing, exchange rate and interest rate risk management, as well as integrated financial services.
Director-General of Investment Promotion Alpha Lau said the move demonstrates Hong Kong’s strengths as the first port of call for mainland firms going global and as a hub for corporate treasury centres.
“As the world’s largest offshore Renminbi hub, Hong Kong can provide enterprises with cross-border Renminbi settlement, multi-currency fund management and risk hedging capabilities,” Lau said.
She added that she hopes Chinalco will use the treasury centre as a starting point to further establish commodity trading functions in Hong Kong, combining the city’s pricing, clearing, financing, and warehousing networks with the company’s own industrial strengths to create synergy.
Chinalco Chief Financial Officer Wang Xin said Hong Kong’s foreign exchange market – the fourth largest in the world – together with its well-developed channels for Renminbi financing and trade settlement, and its unique advantage of connecting to the mainland, will help the group manage its global funds in a more efficient and effective way.
“In the future, Chinalco Treasury will build a fully functional offshore fund management platform for the group. All funds will be pooled, all settlement will be centralised and all risks will be controlled,” she said.
Founded in 2001, Chinalco is a key state-owned enterprise under the direct administration of the central government, with an industrial chain covering more than 20 non-ferrous metals. It has been on the Fortune Global 500 list every year since 2008 and operates in more than 20 countries and regions.