BEIJING, 9 October 2007 — China has signed a memorandum with Dubai to strengthen cooperation in supervising banks, the China Banking Regulatory Commission said yesterday.
Beijing will cooperate with the Dubai Financial Services Authority in areas such as information sharing and on-site inspections, according to the statement.
Liu Mingkang, China’s top banking regulator, signed the agreement with David Knott, chief executive of the Dubai agency.
The agreement is the 27th that the CBRC has signed with its overseas counterparts.
Under the terms of China’s Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor program, banks may invest client money only in countries that have signed such a memo with the CBRC.
The memorandum comes at a time of deepening trade and investment links between China and Middle East, both flush with large reserves of dollars.
Separately, the Dubai stock exchange will halt trading in shares of Emirates Bank International Ltd. and National Bank of Dubai (NBD) from yesterday until they are combined into the Gulf’s largest lender by assets.
Both banks announced the suspension on the stock exchange website yesterday.
Shares of Emirates NBD, the combined entity controlled by the government of Dubai, are expected to start trading on the Dubai Financial Market on Oct. 16, Emirates Bank said. Each NBD share will be exchanged for 0.95 shares in Emirates NBD. Emirates Bank shareholders will get one share in the new lender for each share they own. The Dubai government will own 56 percent of Emirates NBD.
Meanwhile, Dubai-listed National Central Cooling Co. (Tabreed) said it had won three 20-year contracts in the United Arab Emirates to supply cooling services.
A Tabreed plant in Dubai will provide 6,400 tons refrigerant for a hotel and mixed-use development for Kuwait’s Aerated Concrete Industries Co. under two contracts.