The opening of the China Construction Bank's Zurich branch in January 2016 was marked by a grand ceremony attended by notable figures such as Thomas Jordan, President of the Swiss National Bank, UBS Chairman Axel Weber, Credit Suisse-CEO Tidjane Thiam, Vontobel-CEO Zeno Staub, Swiss Life Chariman Rolf Dörig and China′s Ambassador to Switzerland, Xu Jinghu.

After the initial excitement, the Swiss Renminbi hub has become quiet. However, the China Construction Bank is now drawing attention again with the launch of a new payment system.

Similar to Prepaid Card

The goal is to simplify payments for travelers to China. In partnership with Fiat24, the CCB Zurich branch will enable customers to load RMB (Renminbi) onto a Visa card issued by Fiat24, similar to a prepaid card. Customers can preload their RMB balance onto the card and convert it to RMB before traveling to China.

The advantage is that customers no longer need to worry about exchange rates during the transaction. Additionally, the card can be linked to popular apps in China, such as Alipay and Wechat pay making it convenient for foreign visitors to make QR payments. Transactions are directly debited from the cardholder's RMB account through QR code scanning.

In addition, using Visa/MasterCard eliminates additional processing fees, which currently amount to about 3 percent for transactions over 200 RMB with Alipay and WeChat Pay.

Launch in the Fourth Quarter

The Zurich branch of the China Construction Bank plans to launch the new payment system in the fourth quarter of this year, with corporate clients receiving early access.

With this innovation, the bank aims to reinforce its role as a gateway for Swiss companies. «Swiss companies have great technologies. But to continue growing, they need access to markets like China. We help them with that», says Weiyun Gong, General Manager of the Zurich office, in an interview with  finews.ch.  

Zurich Among the Top Three International Locations

Initial concerns at the opening of the Zurich office that the hub would primarily benefit Chinese companies seeking access to the Swiss market have proven unfounded. According to Weiyun Gong, it is mainly Swiss companies that are reaching out to the China Construction Bank.

The Swiss location has developed successfully within the bank. «This year, Zurich is among the top three international locations in our banking group in terms of profit growth», says Weiyun Gong.