Han Ximin

STANDARD Chartered Plc., the U.K. bank that gets most of its profit from Asia, opened a regional call center in Shenzhen yesterday to facilitate its service to customers in China.

The bank is the first foreign lender to set up a call center in Shenzhen.

The center, which has an office in Luohu and one in Futian district, is equipped to handle customer enquiries, telesales and after-sale services to customers on the mainland and in Hong Kong.

Katherine Tsang, CEO and executive director of the Standard Chartered Bank (China) Ltd., said at the opening ceremony yesterday that the establishment of the call center marked another milestone for the bank in augmenting back-office operations and infrastructure, to support customer service.

“The service center will exert a significant role for Standard Chartered’s further development in China,” said Christine Ip, head of the Consumer Bank of the Standard Chartered Bank (China) Ltd. The service center would support the pace of the bank’s business expansion, she said.

Standard Chartered Plc. set up its first branch in Shanghai in 1858, and has remained in operation for the past 150 years.

Standard Chartered Bank (China) Ltd. was one of the first banks to incorporate officially in China in April this year. It has one of the largest foreign bank networks with 13 branches, 17 sub-branches and two representative offices on the mainland.