Exclusive | Credit Agricole bolsters Asia expansion from Hong Kong, undeterred by Trump’s trade war

French banking giant Credit Agricole CIB is committed to using Hong Kong as a base to expand its business in Asia, and those plans will not be affected by Donald Trump’s plan to wage a trade war with China, according to its CEO.

“Internationalisation of the yuan, green finance and infrastructure development are the three major themes of development in Hong Kong, which can offer huge opportunities for Credit Agricole CIB as we have strong capability in these areas,” Xavier Musca said in an exclusive interview with the Post during a recent visit to the city.

“Asia has a gigantic pool of savings, which is very interesting for Credit Agricole Group as a bank and as an asset management company.”

He said Credit Agricole’s expansion plan in Hong Kong and Asia will not be affected by the challenges brought by the re-election of Trump, who has vowed to impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods.

“China, the second most important economy in the world, will continue to grow and will continue to be an open economy,” Musca said. “We will not scale down our activities in China or in Asia because of the threat of a trade war.”

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What appeals to the lender are the many infrastructure projects in the city that need funding, an area the French lender specialises in. The Hong Kong government is currently selling HK$20 billion (US$2.6 billion) in infrastructure retail bonds until December 6 to finance many key infrastructure projects. In mid-October the government raised HK$55 billion from Silver Bonds for the same purpose.