Hong Kong's Commercial Landscape Grows

Allahabad Bank, India’s oldest joint stock bank, has chosen Hong Kong for its first overseas branch. The public sector bank, currently 55.23% held by the Indian government, also opened a representative branch office in Shenzhen.

Hong Kong’s banking sector also recently saw the opening of the first overseas office of the Swiss private bank, Banque Piguet & Cie S.A. The bank aims to take advantage of the liberalization of the banking sector in Mainland China to offer its asset management and private banking business to high net worth individuals across the Greater China region.

North American-based Rhombus International Hotels Group has shown confidence in Hong Kong's tourism market. The group's deluxe boutique hotel, Hotel LKF, opened in June 2006, and a second property, Hotel Panorama, will welcome guests later this year. Together, the hotels will create over 600 jobs in Hong Kong. Hotel LKF’s occupancy rate has exceeded 90% since Its opening and has recently won first prize in the hotel section at the 2006 Asia Pacific Interior Design Awards.

Highlighting Hong Kong’s appeal as a luxury shopping paradise, Fedon, one of Italy’s premier leather accessories retailers, has announced plans to open a flagship store in Hong Kong. The decision was prompted by the success of Fedon’s first Asia store of its brand “Giorgio Fedon 1919”, which opened less than two months ago at the Hong Kong International Airport.

Another newcomer to Hong Kong's retail landscape, the Italian premium apparel brand, GAS, opened a concept flagship store in Causeway Bay in February. The move reinforces GAS's Asian commercial strategy to focuson developnig the China market through its Hong Kong branch office.

Citing an agenda driven by regional expansion, the UK business management consultancy, Molten, has opened an Asian regional base in Hong Kong. The company intends the new office to play a key role in Molten's expansion plans, which revolve around Singapore and China.

Talisma Corporation, the market leader in enterprise Customer Interaction Management (CIM) solutions, opened its regional headquarters in Hong Kong In February. Talisma Corporation HK Ltd, will become the company’s regional headquarters for the whole of East Asia, and the springboard for its expanding sales, marketing and delivery reach to Mainland China, the Philippines, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Hunt&Palmer, one of the world's largest independent aircraft charter companies, is taking Hong Kong's aviation industry to new heights with the opening of a new regional office. It will service the demands of international clients and will provide access, for the first time, to Hong Kong and Mainland China customers who wish to charter executive aircraft elsewhere in the world.

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