Comment trouver un travail qui nous correspond ?

Il n'y a pas vraiment de mode d'emplois pour trouver un travail qui nous correspond. A l'heure actuel, la question est malheureusement souvent "comment trouver un travail ?"... En tout cas pour en trouver un qui nous correspond, il faut faire un gros travail sur soi et apprendre vraiment à ce connaitre !!Vous avez aussi la possibilité de passer par l'ANPE, demandez un entretien et on peut alors vous diriger vers une prestation de service payée par l'ANPE qui fait appel à des intervenants pour vous prendre en main sur plusieurs semaines ou mois afin d'établir un "objectif projet individuel"... Cet accompagnement vous permettra de mieux définir votre cible de recherche d'emplois en fonction de votre caractère, vos goûts, vos compétences.

Commerzbank achète Dresdner pour 9,8 milliards d'euros

Le géant allemand de la banque et de l'assurance Allianz a annoncé, dimanche 31 août, la vente de sa filiale Dresdner Bank à Commerzbank pour 9,8 milliards d'euros, une transaction qui va donner naissance à un nouveau colosse bancaire en Allemagne.
L'opération se fera en deux temps et devrait être au plus tard bouclée fin 2009, a précisé Allianz. Dans un premier temps, Commerzbank va racheter 60,2 % de Dresdner, qu'elle paiera avec ses propres actions. Par la suite, Commerzbank rachètera les 39,8 % restants. Au terme de l'opération, Allianz détiendra près de 30 % du nouvel ensemble, selon le communiqué publié à l'issue d'une réunion extraordinaire de son conseil d'administration. Le bancassureur munichois et Commerzbank se sont également mis d'accord pour couvrir ensemble les risques de nouvelles dépréciations d'actifs encourus par Dresdner Bank à cause de la crise financière. La prise de contrôle de Dresdner devrait permettre à Commerzbank de créer un groupe apte à mieux concurrencer Deutsche Bank, le numéro un du secteur en Allemagne. Elle devrait s'accompagner de la suppression de 9 000 emplois environ, selon des sources proches du dossier, et pourrait remettre en question l'avenir de la banque d'investissement Dresdner Kleinwort.
China Development Bank était aussi intéressé par le rachat de Dresdner Bank mais a été écarté en raison de l'hostilité suscitée à Berlin comme à Pékin par la perspective d'un tel accord.

Statement from the Management of BOC to Several Key Concerns of the Investors

Bank of China (“BOC” or “the Bank”) attaches great importance to the exchange and communication with investors. The Management of BOC would like to take the opportunity of announcing our 2007 operating results to give the following statements to address some key questions frequently asked by its investors, such as investment in U.S. subprime mortgage related debt securities, asset quality, impacts of macro economies and overseas development strategy, all of which are also key issues related to the development of the Bank:
I. Investment in U.S. Subprime Mortgage Related Debt Securities
Investment in foreign currency denominated securities has always been a competitive business and one of the most important profit sources of the Bank. Over recent years, along with the rapid growth of domestic Renminbi business, the weight of the foreign currency assets of the Bank has decreased from 43.10% in 2005 to 37.23% in 2007. At the end of 2007, the investment of the Bank in foreign currency denominated securities amounted to RMB 745.054 billion, accounting for 33.40% in foreign currency assets, of which 62.52% was invested in US dollar denominated securities. In spite of the decreasing size and weight compared with past years, foreign currency securities investments maintained good returns, thanks to the expertise and talent team accumulated over many years.
The Bank started to invest in U.S. Subprime ABS since 2002, and as at end of 2006, the carrying value of U.S. Subprime ABS and Subprime CDOs held by the Bank stood at USD 10.633 billion. As the level of credit risk in U.S. Subprime ABS became apparent, the Management of the Bank closely monitored and analyzed market trends, managed and adjusted its investment portfolios over time. In particular, the Management completely ceased investing in U.S. Subprime ABS and Subprime CDOs and disposed some of the higher risk U.S. Subprime ABS and all of the Subprime CDOs at an opportune time. In addition, principal and interest were also normally repaid. As the result, the carrying value of the Bank’s relevant securities investment has gradually reduced from USD 9.647 billion at the end of June 2007 to USD 7.947 billion at the end of September 2007, and further down to USD 4.990 billion by the end of 2007. Hence the risks were brought under effective control. The Bank will, according to the market trends, continue to optimize the structure of the investment portfolio and reinforce surveillance and management of the investment portfolio. In the meantime, the Bank has further refined its securities investment policies and investment decision-making procedures and revised and released a series of market risk management policies and measures.
In compliance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the Bank formulated the Management Measures of Impairment Allowances for Bonds Investment (the “Measures”) to further clarify the recognition principle, measurement method and work procedures regarding impairment allowances. In accordance with the Measures, the front office business department responsible for bonds investment conducts a preliminary assessment of the impairment allowance, solicits independent risk assessment and price verification from the risk management and financial management departments, and also engages the external auditor for independent audit.
First of all, it is the responsibility of the front office department to analyze all Subprime ABS and non-agency MBS on an individual basis, calculate expected loss ratio based on key indicators reflecting the quality of each asset pool, such as delinquency rate, default rate, foreclosure rate and accumulated loss rate, from the Trustee Reports, compare the loss ratio with the credit support coverage ratio of such bonds, and monitor the changes of these indicators to identify bonds with indicators of impairment. In addition, the front office department obtains prices from multiple sources, including the open market, trading counterparties or professional price information providers hired by the Bank, and chooses the lowest price thereof for calculation of impairment allowance. The results of the two approaches are cross verified and proven to be consistent.
After the above assessment procedures, the front office department proposes impairment allowance to the risk management and financial management departments. The risk management department conducts independent analysis on the features of the underlying assets of the bonds held by the Bank, such as vintage, delinquency rate, FICO Score and principle prepayment pace, on an individual basis. The risk management department also undertakes constant monitoring and analysis of the rating movements of both the bonds and insurer. Thus it can issue relevant suggestions based on professional assessment and examination of the impairment figures. In addition, the financial management department accesses to more price sources, including back office counterparties and internationally renowned professional price providers, so as to obtain additional information to verify the impairment allowance calculation results provided by front office department. Our external auditor is also involved in making independent verification over bonds impairment recognition and impairment assessment of the Bank.
Moreover, the Bank closely monitored market changes after the balance sheet date and conducted follow-up assessment upon bonds impairment allowance at the end of 2007. The aforesaid procedures help the Bank to assess, measure and identify the subprime related debt securities in a prudent manner. Our external auditor imposed strict audit procedures upon 2007 annual report of the Bank and issued unqualified audit opinion.
By the end of 2007, BOC no longer held the relatively higher risk US Subprime CDOs. The carrying value of the Bank’s U.S. Subprime ABS reduced to USD 4.990 billion, representing 2.13% and 0.61% of the total securities investment of the Group and total assets of the Group respectively, of which 71.23% had AAA rating, 25.93% had AA rating, and 1.10% had A rating. In strict compliance with the requirements of IFRS regarding bonds impairment assessment, BOC charged USD 1.295 billion of impairment allowance against US Subprime ABS.

II. Asset Quality
Since the joint-stock reform in 2004, the Bank has achieved “dual reduction” in the balance and ratio of impaired loans at the Group level, and also in domestic and overseas operations for consecutive years. The balance, ratio and the new-formation ratio of impaired loans and the credit cost of the Group have decreased from RMB 118.383 billion, 5.51%, 3.55% and 1.11%, respectively, at the end of 2004 to RMB 90.317 billion, 3.17%, 1.25% and 0.31%, respectively, at the end of 2007. The balance and the ratio of impaired loans of the Group at the end of 2007 have witnessed continuous decreases over those at the end of the first quarter, the first half year and the third quarter of 2007.
In 2004, the Bank took the lead among domestic commercial banks and started to make allowance for loan impairment loss under IFRS requirements and methods. Impairment allowance is made on an individual assessment basis for large-amount corporate impaired loans over RMB 15 million, and allowance is made on collective assessment on the rest of the loan book. In 2007, the Bank continued to adopt the same methods and standards to identify impaired loans and set aside loan impairment allowance. In line with the principle of prudence, the Bank has consistently adopted more stringent loan risk classification standards than regulatory requirement and peer practice. For instance, the Bank downgrades domestic retail loans overdue for over 90 days to non-performing class regardless of the reasons or whether the loan is adequately collateralized.
In 2007, the credit cost of the Bank dropped significantly from that of 2006. The Group set aside loan impairment allowance of RMB 8.252 billion, down RMB 4.09 billion from that of 2006, which was attributable to the following two direct reasons: Firstly, newly increased identified loans and special-mention loans have decreased. In 2007, based on continuous supervision and management of special-mention loans according to the degree of high, medium and low risks, the Bank established two lists for higher risk loans over RMB100 million and loans to clients which we classify as “exit” type. For the majority of loans with a credit rating below A and classified as special-mention loans, management measures and sets steps or exit plans and supervises implementation of these by branches on quarterly basis. As at the end of 2007, the number of customers on the two lists decreased to 843 from 1,787 at end of the last year, and aggregate loans reduced by RMB 25.7 billion, which effectively prevented the relatively higher risk corporate loans from being further downgraded to NPLs. These measures led to a decrease of RMB 53.154 billion in the special-mention loans of the Group in 2007 and the ratio of special-mention loans dropped from 19.77% in 2004 to 5.08% at end of 2007. The total overdue loans and loans overdue for over 90 days of the Group were down by RMB 21.953 billion and RMB 11.024 billion respectively. The Group saw newly increased impaired loans of RMB 33.006 billion, a drop of RMB 8.922 billion year-on-year, with the new-formation ratio of impaired loans dropping by 0.55 percentage points. Secondly, the Bank has further strengthened the recovery of non-performing assets. The Bank realized cash recoveries of RMB 25.224 billion for corporate NPLs in domestic institutions in the year, remaining approximately at the same level as the past several years. The reversed impairment allowance totaled approximately RMB 9.3 billion, basically offsetting the increased impairment allowance for new impaired loans. Despite the significant drop in credit cost in 2007, the allowance coverage ratio for impaired loans of the Group still increased by 15.03 percentage points year-on-year, reaching 106.37%.
The progress made in enhancing the Bank’s risk management system was at the root of the continuous improvement in asset quality over the past several years. Since the joint-stock reform, BOC has been consistently improving and developing the risk management system, mechanisms, procedures, methods and techniques, and giving priority to enhance the independence, centralization and professionalism of risk management in order to promote the sustainable development of credit business. Specific measures include: (1) improving corporate governance by setting up the Risk Policy Committee under the Board of Directors, which is independent from the Management in formulating risk policies; (2) strengthening business management by establishing the Credit Administration Department as independent from the front-line business departments. The Credit Administration Department will grant loans to customers when preconditions for loan extension are fulfilled. In addition, the “three-in-one” credit decision-making mechanism focusing on due diligence, credit review and accountability approval was further improved; (3) centralizing loan approval. Since 2004, the approval authorization for corporate loans has been centralized to Head Office and tier-one branches, and the Head Office approves about 50% of total loan amount. Retail loan centers were established in tier-one branches for centralized approval of retail loans; (4) centralizing rating and classification. Since 2005, the determination of credit ratings of A and B type customers as well as the risk classification of all corporate loans has been centralized to the Head Office and tier-one branches. The Head Office is responsible for the risk classification of approximately 80% of corporate credit assets. The Bank is the only one among domestic large commercial banks that centralizes the classification authority to the Head Office and tier-one branches; (5) reinforcing the professionalism of the specialized risk management team. The Bank appointed an experienced professional from a world leading banks as the chief credit risk officer of the Group, and also centralized the selection of chief credit risk officers for branches and professional approval officers at both Head Office and all provincial branches. As at the end of 2007, chief credit risk officers of 32 branches all took office and 42 professional approval officers started fulfilling their responsibilities at the Head Office and branches. Full-time Risk Review Committee members were appointed. The Head Office defined the qualifications for full-time committee members, and organized unified qualification exams to select due diligence examiners at the Head Office and tier-one branch levels. The Head Office also selected professionals for customer credit rating and facility rating for the Head Office to perform the specialized function of due diligence investigation, credit rating and risk classification.
As of 2004, the Bank has been strictly implementing the state macro-economic adjustment measures and adopting higher access standards to the industries influenced by these macro-economic adjustments. Output indicators were set up, and other indicators such as technical equipment and energy consumption were also included into the client access assessment indicator system, so as to guide branches to provide credit support to large-scale energy conservation and environment-friendly projects with advanced technologies. For example, the Bank has strictly enforced the requirements of the state control policies concerning energy conservation and control of loans to industries with heavy energy consumption and heavy pollution, and adhered to one-vote-veto system relating to environmental protection standards. Mortgage of land is required in case of the property development loans in principle, and the “Direct Sale Model” differentiated from peer banks is generally adopted to personal housing mortgage loans. By means of such forward-looking industrial credit management measures, its loans to industries with excess capacity, potentially excess capacity, heavy energy consumption and heavy pollution has been effectively controlled and the quality of such sectors is better than the average corporate loans of domestic operation. Real estate loans of domestic branches increased by RMB 30.024 billion in the year, while the impaired loan balance dropped by RMB 3.718 billion and impaired loan ratio dropped by 4.56 percentage points to 4.87%.
In 2008, the Bank will further improve its risk management system, strictly implement macro-economic adjustment policies, optimize the credit structure, intensify existing credit restructuring, improve customer structure and continue to enhance the proportion of loans to customers with high credit ratings. The credit management procedures will be optimized and integrated, the authorization management system will be improved and the credit decision-making quality be enhanced. The Bank will also strengthen the early-warning system risk monitoring purpose, continuously refine the management and sub-categorization of special-mention loans and enhanced the name-list management measures of large-amount high-risk customers and exit-type customers, and strictly control the newly increased impaired loans. Rigorous measures will be adopted, such as cash recovery, write-off, and structural transaction to reduce and dispose of existing NPLs. The Bank is confident in accomplishing persistent improvement of asset quality and further reduction of impaired loan ratio at the end of the year.

III. Challenges and Opportunities Brought by Macroeconomic Control
In 2007, the global economic growth slowed down and inflation pressure became increasingly heavier. As the international financial market became more volatile, the uncertainties and potential risks of economic operation also became more apparent. China’s economy maintained stable and rapid growth in 2007 while facing the risks of turning from quick growth to overheating and from structural price increase to overall inflation, for which Chinese government implemented series of macro-economic control policies. These changes in the domestic and overseas macro-economic environments present both challenges and opportunities to the development of BOC. We will fully leverage our international network and diversified business platform and fully exert its competitive advantages to mitigate the impact of cyclical economic adjustments and maintain quality and rapid growth.
The following sections provide detailed description of how BOC will use its strengths to achieve quality and rapid sustainable development from three important aspects, namely stable growth of loans, continuous improvement of net interest margin and growth of fee-based business.
1) Loan Growth
BOC will fully abide by the Chinese Government macroeconomic control measures and tightening monetary policy and will apply stringent control to the size of loan book and progress of loan extension in strict compliance with PBOC guidance. In 2008, the size of its new RMB loans will be well controlled under that of last year. Though the growth rate of loans will be lower due to enlarged base of total loans, a domestic RMB loan growth of approximately 13% can be expected.
In 2008, we will give full play to its strengths and take various measures to develop loan business and improve profitability. Firstly, we will proactively manage and optimize the loan portfolio, giving priority to high-quality customers, developing the small and medium business loans, and adjusting the variety of loans and term of loans. Secondly, we will not only attach great importance on new loans but also focus on optimizing existing loan portfolio. On the one hand, we will reinforce our effort in writing-off non-performing loans to make room for extension of new loans. On the other hand, enhancing product innovation to meet funding needs of customers and increase earnings from fee-based business through various means. Third, we will fully leverage its international network and diversified business platform and business advantages in foreign exchange business to strengthen coordination between domestic and overseas operations, share global customer base and service resources, and promote development of the loan business at home and abroad.
2) Interest Rate Change
We estimate that the current changes in domestic and overseas interest rates have a neutral to positive impact on the overall financial condition of BOC. In 2007, PBOC adjusted the benchmark interest rates of RMB deposits and loans for six times. Though the time deposit rate increased slightly higher than the lending rate, the demand deposit rate increase was less than that of lending rate, while the money market and bond investment saw higher returns. Overall, these rises in interest rates brought us higher financial income and increased net interest margin. Furthermore, we have taken a variety of actions to improve the rate of return on loans. In 2007, the net interest margin of domestic RMB operations of BOC increased by 46 basis points to 2.70%.
In the second half of 2007, the U.S. Federal Reserve cut rates by 100 basis points for three times while PBOC maintained the domestic small-value USD deposit rate unchanged. These changes imposed some negative effect on its net interest margin. However, due to narrowed Sino-US interest spread, the cost of our foreign exchange derivative transactions for asset-liability management and financing needs was also reduced. Furthermore, the interest rate of domestic USD funds remained at high levels. Therefore, the yield of main domestic interest-earning assets, including foreign exchange loans, trade finance and inter-bank placement, saw significant increase, somewhat offsetting the impact of USD rate cuts. We have also taken measures to minimize the impact of further USD interest rate cuts, including expanding sources of foreign exchange deposits, optimizing foreign exchange deposit structure to reduce related funding costs, and improving returns on foreign currency loans through appropriate expansion of domestic and overseas remittance and lending while ensuring a stable source of funding. On the whole, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate cuts have had only a limited impact on the financial results of BOC.
3) Development of Fee-Based Business
In 2007, the net fee and commission income of BOC registered an increase of 91.92%. Its weight in total operating income increased from 9.65% in 2006 to 15.04%, the highest among domestic peers. BOC will continue developing fee-based business in 2008.
Since the beginning of 2008, the Chinese capital market has experienced tremendous volatility which affected the relevant fee-based business, but with limited impact to BOC. In 2007, we took advantage of favorable market conditions and achieved approximately 11 times growth year-on-year in fund distribution income in Chinese Mainland, approximately representing approximately 17% of the Group’s total fee and commission income. Our reliance on the domestic capital market is much less than other banks in the country. The major reasons are: 1) among its diversified sources of fee income, the core of long-term stable growth is our traditional competitive businesses, e.g. international settlement, clearing and trade finance, which accounted for 27% of the Group’s total fee and commission income; and 2) BOCHK and other overseas organizations also saw rapid growth of fee and commission income and increasing contribution to the Group. Our overseas operations contributed 33% of the increased fee and commission income in 2007. Therefore, even though domestic capital market may develop negatively in 2008, no significant fluctuation will occur in the fee and commission income of BOC.
We believe that the continuous appreciation of Renminbi and the recession of U.S. economy will negatively affect export trade while positively affecting the import trade of China. Therefore its international settlement business will remain on the track of sound development. We will continue to give priority and supports to the development of its international settlement business through financial resource reallocation, launching new competitive products catering for customer needs, optimizing the structure of international settlement business, and further promoting the development of trade finance and trade settlement business, thereby ensuring continuous and stable growth of fees and commission income from trade finance and settlement business as well as consolidating and sharpening its competitive edge and expanding its market share. Meanwhile, we will seize the opportunity that the government encourages the Chinese enterprises to “Going Outbound”, take various measures to develop guarantee and factoring services, and effectively advance the international settlement business.
IV. Overseas Development Strategy
With nearly 100 years of history, BOC has constructed a global network with 689 overseas branches and subsidiaries in 28 countries and regions and has established a diversified business platform spanning from commercial banking, investment banking and insurance, to fund management, asset management and leasing business. Fully leveraging the international and diversified business platform and aggressively expanding overseas business on multiple business lines constitute a crucial part of the Bank’s overall development strategy, and also a competitive edge that strategically differentiate us from other commercial banks.
In the context of further reform and opening of China in recent years, Chinese economy maintains rapid growth and BOC also made breakthroughs in its domestic business. The after-tax profit of BOC from domestic operations achieved an increase from 40% in 2004 to 58% in 2007, and the percentage of RMB assets has grown from 66% in 2004 to 80% in 2007. The growth of its domestic business provides a strong support for the development of its overseas operations. Meanwhile, based on overall strength of the group and interaction between domestic and overseas operations, the assets of its overseas organizations maintain a stable a compound annual growth rate of 5.17% in the past three years, during which the growth of operating profit of overseas organizations averages 14.50%, greatly promoting the development of its domestic operation. It is a fact that BOC’s overseas development has great potential as long as we can fully utilized domestic and overseas markets, develop synergy between domestic and overseas operations, and share benefits brought by economic globalization.
For successful overseas development, we need to promote specialized operation, centralized management and integrated development among overseas outlets, aggressively develop Asia-Pacific market, consolidate European and U.S. markets, closely follow up Chinese enterprises and individuals “Going Outbound”, and provide comprehensive tailor-made services for local organizations and local medium-and high-end customers doing business with China, so as to enhance core competencies of the Group.
The BOC syndicated loan business now enjoys the leading position in the domestic market. Since 2007, we have further restructured our overseas syndicated loan platform. Three syndicated loan centers covering Europe & African, Asian and American were established. It will helps us to better use the brand name and capital strength of BOC Group to participate in major international syndicated loan transactions. For example, BOCHK has now become the No.1 arranger of syndicated loans in Hong Kong. The establishment of BOCHK-operated Asian syndicated loan center expanded its business to the whole Asia-Pacific region, greatly improving the influence and profitability of BOC group in the Asian syndicated loan market.
We have also made significant progress in building a diversified business platform. In 2007, BOCI topped Chinese investment banks in the IPO underwriting business in Hong Kong for the second consecutive year, won the first place in inter-dealer market for underwriting of domestic treasury bonds and policy-directional financial bonds, was granted major awards by Asia Asset Management, Lipper and Asiamoney, and was recognized by Chinese CEOs as “Top 10 Most Trusted Investment Banks”. BOC Insurance, the wholly owned subsidiary of BOCG Insurance, was approved to be treated as domestic insurer in 2007 and no longer subject to regulations imposed on foreign insurers in its business scope and geographic areas. BOC Insurance is seeking opportunities to accelerate organizational expansion and business development. In past year, it has opened 12 branches in Chinese Mainland and its premium income more than tripled. BOCG Investment is a wholly-owned investment management company of BOC. In recent years, BOCG Investment has expanded its investment fields and size, achieved good results in equity investment, real estate investment and disposal of non-performing assets.
M&A is a crucial approach of BOC’s overseas expansion. We are currently considering various M&A opportunities and will accelerate expansion of our international and diversified business platform through an M&A strategy that is consistent with BOC’s overall strategy. However, we will not seek M&A simply for the sake of expansion. Instead, the purpose of its M&A strategy is to explore new business fields, extend organizational network, and consolidate and expand diversified business platform. The potential M&A targets should meet the criteria of good strategic synergy and business compatibility with BOC, and can help enrich its product mix and further diversify its income sources, thus to provide more comprehensive financial services for customers and deliver sustainable long-term growth of investment return to shareholders.
The foregoing strategy is fully embodied in BOC’s acquisition of Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise, which was renamed to BOC Aviation after the acquisition. BOC Aviation currently operates a fleet of 76 airplanes serving 29 airlines in 19 countries. After this acquisition, BOC become the first Chinese bank operating in the global aircraft leasing sector. Meanwhile, BOC will leverage the traditional cooperative relationship with domestic airlines to further penetrate the robust domestic aircraft leasing market. In 2008, we will more aggressively seek appropriate investment opportunities and accelerate expansion of its international and diversified business platform through M&A.

BOCHK Launches the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Hong Kong Dollar Commemorative Banknote

Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited (“BOCHK”) today (11 July) announced the launch of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Hong Kong Dollar Commemorative Banknote (“HKD Olympic Banknote”) denominated in HKD20. There is a total of 4 million pieces of the HKD Olympic Banknote to be available for public sale from July 16 to 31 at the 50 designated branches of BOCHK. Proceeds generated from the sale of the HKD Olympic Banknote will be donated for charity cause. Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Commemorative Banknote is the first Olympic-themed banknote in the history of the Olympic Games. HKD Olympic Banknote has a far-reaching meaning as it combines the elements of the Olympic Games and charity, further promoting the spirit of the “People’s Olympic”.
The launch ceremony of the HKD Olympic Banknote was held today at the 70/F of Bank of China Tower. The officiating guests included Mr He Guangbei, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive of BOCHK; Ms Guo Li, Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR; The Honorable John C. Tsang, Financial Secretary of the HKSAR; Mr Joseph Yam, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority; The Honorable Timothy Fok, President of Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of HK, China and Vice President of The Equestrian Committee (Hong Kong) of Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad; Ms Yuan Bin, Director of Marketing Department of Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, Mr Lam Woon Kwong, Chief Executive Officer of Equestrian Events (Hong Kong) of The Games of The XXIX Olympiad Company Limited and Mr Xu Chen, General Manager of the Olympic Affairs Department of Bank of China Head Office.
Addressing the audience at the launch ceremony, Mr He Guangbei said, “The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games is a momentous international event that all Chinese will be proud of. It is also the first time ever in the history of the modern Olympic Games that Olympic Banknotes are issued. As a note-issuing bank in Hong Kong, it is our great honour to commemorate the Beijing Olympic Games with this Banknote. We share the pride with Hong Kong citizens. It took just over a year to design and print the Hong Kong Dollar Olympic Banknote. It was accomplished in such a short time with the proactive guidance and gracious support of the Financial Secretary of the HKSAR Government, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, International Olympic Committee, The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, Bank of China Head Office, China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation and Hong Kong Note Printing Limited. I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of Bank of China (Hong Kong), to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the relevant parties.”
The Banknote is the legal tender of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, but not intended for use as general local banknotes in circulation. As such, all the banknotes will be packaged and sold at the prices higher than their face values. BOCHK will bear all the costs of the HKD Olympic Banknote design, printing, packaging, the royalties, sales and the like. Proceeds generated from the sales of the HKD Olympic Banknote, after deducting the face value and the costs, will all be donated to charity. A portion of the donations will be used to support sports development.
“So we are not only commemorating the Olympic Games in a way that will not increase the number of general banknotes in circulation or burden the Hong Kong SAR government, we are also contributing to a good charitable cause. With the issuance of the Hong Kong Dollar Olympic Banknote, let’s join hands together with the general public to welcome the Olympic Games with joy. We wish every success for the Beijing Olympic Games”, Mr He added.
Addressing the audience at the launch ceremony, Ms Yuan Bin said, “The issuance of the Olympic Banknote is the fruitful result of the close cooperation and concerted efforts of Beijing and Hong Kong under the guidance of the “One Country, Two Systems” policy in the wake of the return of Hong Kong to our motherland. It also demonstrates the best wishes of both Hong Kong and the Mainland people in joining hands to organize a great international event and contribute to its tremendous success.”
In commemorating the Beijing Olympic Games, the theme of the HKD Olympic Banknote promotes the objective of the Olympic Games and the mission of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The front side of the HKD Olympic Banknote features the relic of the ancient Olympic stadium, the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games emblem and the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong. On the reverse side is the Beijing Olympic Stadium, or the National Stadium (known also as the “Bird’s Nest”). The pictures, wordings and symbols of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games have been adopted by the Banknote. These images, be they bold or elegant, dynamic or still, embody the harmonious blending of ancient civilization and modern culture, reflecting the history and development of the Olympic spirit from generation to generation. These icons signify the passion and best wishes of the people of Hong Kong towards the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

There are altogether 4 million pieces of HKD Olympic Banknotes which will be offered in five different packages with a total of 3.14 million sets available for public sale. The types and prices of the Olympic Banknote are: Radiant Joy (Single HKD Note) at HKD138 per set, Triumphant Spirit (4-in-1 Uncut HKD Notes) at HKD338 per set, Brilliant Jubilation (35-in-1 Uncut HKD Notes) at HKD1,388 per set, Harmonious Union (a package of one HKD Note and one MOP Note) at HKD268 per set, United Pleasure (a package of 4-in-1 Uncut HKD Notes and 4-in-1 Uncut MOP Notes) at HKD868 per set.
The HKD Olympic Banknotes will be sold in Hong Kong and Macau, and a small amount will be sold worldwide by authorized agents approved by the International Olympic Committee. The sales quota allocated to Hong Kong will be 2.93 million sets, representing 3.76 million pieces of the notes. Sales will be conducted in two phases: the first from July 16 to 31 at the 50 designated branches of BOCHK. All the five types of the Olympic Banknote will be available at the 6 designated branches while only single note will be made available at the rest 44 designated branches. The second phase is from August 8 to 22 at the related Olympic Equestrian venue.
Sales of the HKD Olympic Banknote will be conducted in accordance with the principles of “Openness, Fairness and Transparency”. The HKD Olympic Banknotes will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis. Interested public are required to queue up at the designated branches. No reservation or registration will be allowed. Each person will be limited to purchase 1 set of each type of the HKD Olympic Banknote for each time. All the notes will be sold in a random manner, and customers are not allowed to select designated serial numbers.
BOCHK will arrange for some limited editions of the HKD Olympic Banknotes, featuring special serial numbers, to be sold through bidding, with the proceeds to go to charity.