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SANTANDER Bank is due to invest 470 million euros in buying an eight-per-cent slice of the Bank of Shanghai, making it the second-largest shareholder in the Chinese entity. The Spanish financial services group will purchase these shares from HSBC, effectively buying out the British bank's own holding entirely. Its intention is to close the deal by the end of the first half of 2014. Banco Santander will be nominated as the Bank of Shanghai's International Strategic Partner, which means the Spanish entity will advise its board of directors on commercial banking risks and management. In order to do so, Santander will send a team of rofessionals to China next year. The Bank of Shanghai and Santander will work jointly on providing their commercial banking services. As the second-largest firm in the sector in China, the Bank of Shanghai has a total asset value of 98 billion euros and saw net profits of 902 milllion at the end of 2012. It has 294 branches, of which 231 are in Shanghai – China's second major city and site of its head office – which account for 70 per cent of its total asset value, with the remaining 63 branches in 10 other Chinese towns and cities. To date, it has 200,000 corporate clients on its books, most of which are small and medium-sized companies, and eight million personal banking customers.   

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