Hong Kong: Many Banks, not many people
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has issued up to date figures for the number of banks.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has published an up to date list of banks in the SAR. It makes interesting reading.
Hong Kong has around 6 million people. Malaysia has around 20 million. The UK has around 65 million and the USA has around 320 million.
With these figures, the number of banks operating is interesting.
London has about 550 banks of one sort or another. Malaysia is determined to reduce the number of "anchor banks" - that is domestic banks with multi-divisional operations - to six. Its recent consolidation programme has recently reduced the number to ten, although some found it difficult to arrange merger terms within the deadlines set by the government. The USA has many small, neighbourhood banks.
Against these figures, Hong Kong's banking sector is startling: 160 Licensed Banks, 32 Restricted Licenced Banks, 48 Deposit Taking Institutions, 95 representative offices of foreign banks. 75 of the world's 100 largest banks have offices in Hong Kong, according to HKMA.
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