CaixaBank interview: “The Shanghai representative office has advised more than 500 companies, both Spanish and Chinese, over the past fifteen years”

Interview with Diego Esteban López Ricaurte, Regional Manager for Asia at CaixaBank, on the 15th anniversary of CaixaBank's representative office in Shanghai, China

Q: How many representative offices does CaixaBank have in Asia?

A: In August 2009, CaixaBank opened its second representative office in Asia, located in Shanghai. Two years earlier, in 2007, the bank had entered Beijing; these two offices were later followed by those in Hong Kong, Singapore, New Delhi, and finally Australia which together make up CaixaBank's network in the Asia-Pacific region, from which we cover a large part of the continent.

Q: Why Shanghai?

A: The choice of Shanghai was a logical one, as the city is a major commercial and financial centre and a destination for many foreign banks aiming to develop their business on the continent. The main objective of the representative office in the city, as with all CaixaBank's representative offices worldwide, was primarily to support our clients’ activities in the Chinese market, both in foreign trade and investment. Shanghai is the Chinese city with the largest presence of Spanish companies.

CaixaBank’s team in Shanghai (From left to right: Ralph Fei, Veronica Shao (Chief Rep. Officer), Teresa Hou and Jessie Zhou)

Q: How has the office evolved over the past 15 years?

A: In the early years of the office’s establishment, our activities were focused on our Spanish corporate clients, offering them advice and support in their internationalisation process. Communications with local correspondent banks were mainly aimed at ensuring clients’ payments and collections, account services, and facilitating access to loans with local banks. At that time, we started working with Chinese companies, but in many cases only at the request of our clients or as a result of business generated by them.  

With the expansion of CaixaBank's international network in recent years, and especially thanks to some correspondent banks also becoming clients, the representative office has strengthened contact with banks in the region, opening a new stage in its relationship with them. Correspondence is no longer limited to being a channel for our clients’ foreign trade business; the office now acts as a true partner, supporting these banks in their business with their own clients.  

Fifteen years later, we have correspondent agreements with 68 Chinese banks and have advised more than 500 companies, both Spanish and Chinese. During these years, the combined share of all foreign trade products with the country has grown from an initial 8% to 38% in 2024, including established products such as export letters of credit, where our current share is 28%, and products much more linked to our relationships with correspondent banks, such as international guarantees received from China, which had a minimal share in 2009 and have grown to 46% in 2024.

Q: What recommendations do you make to Spanish companies operating in the country?

A: To our business clients entering China, we remind them that breaking into this market requires a stable commitment to the country and great flexibility in adapting products to local tastes and the very demanding requirements in terms of quality and delivery times. That is our day-to-day task at the office. 

Q: You have also brought social commitment and the spirit of volunteering, core elements of CaixaBank’s DNA, to the country, right?

A: Indeed, in recent years, we have participated in multiple initiatives such as donating nappies to the NGO Lupin Foster Home, which shelters abandoned children with disabilities, or collaborating with the programme ‘Un huevo cambia nuestro mundo’ (An egg changes our world), which aims to improve the diets of children in rural poverty-stricken areas, through a donation so that 60 children could receive an egg a day for a year by participating in a charity race involving CaixaBank’s team. Other notable contributions include working with ‘A Coffee’, a café where young people on the autism spectrum develop skills as waiters to facilitate their integration into the labour market, as well as contributing to ‘Caminando’ (‘Walking’) in Shanghai. These initiatives are in addition to our participation in CaixaBank's global initiative ‘El Árbol de los Sueños’ (‘The Tree of Dreams’), aimed at helping children at risk of vulnerability to receive a present at Christmas.

Thank you very much, Esteban!