Summit Bank Corp. of Atlanta has gone global.
Last week the $505 million-asset parent of Summit National Bank opened a representative office in Shanghai in an effort to increase its international trade servicing business.
"We already have a lot of customers that do business with China, and we believe having a presence there will help to facilitate international trade," said Pin Pin Chau, Summit's chief executive.
Summit also hopes the office will attract new customers and business, in addition to boosting fee income.
The office will not make loans or take deposits, but it will provide such services as letters of credit, payments, and transfers and collections for clients involved in trade with China. Xiang Zhan, a native of the country who interned at Summit for a year while he was in business school, will run it.
Ms. Chau said she does not foresee any problems operating an office so far away from the bank's headquarters.
Summit has five branches in the Atlanta area and two in California.
Joseph Gladue, an analyst with Cohen Brothers & Co. in Philadelphia, said it is not that unusual for a bank involved in international trade to set up an office outside the United States, though Summit is smaller than other banks in the business.
He also said the risk associated with the new office is very low. "The expense of running an office is minor, and it gives them a local presence and makes them a little more visible."
Another Asian-owned bank, East West Bancorp of San Marino, Calif., opened its first overseas office, in Beijing, in January 2003.
The $4.9 billion-asset company said in its annual report that the office made a "notable contribution" to its growth in letter of credit fees and commissions, which grew 26% from 2002.
