The XCMG group, one of the largest manufacturers of heavy machinery in China, will open a bank in Brazil to finance the distributors of its products as well as other companies in the sector, the president of the group said in an interview published in Monday’s edition of Brazilian daily newspaper Folha de São Paulo.

Wang Min said that the initial investment is 100 million reais, which is the minimum capital required by the Central Bank of Brazil to open a bank and over the next five years the group plans to invest over 200 million reais.

“The bank intends to support the construction of infrastructure in Brazil, selling better quality machines at reduced interest rates,” said the president of the Chinese group, without specifying the interest rates that would be proposed to clients.

The opening of the bank was authorised by the Brazilian central bank in October 2019 and is scheduled to start operating in the first quarter of this year.

Roberto Pontes, vice-president of Banco XCMG, said the bank’s credit activity plan sets out credit operations in the amount of 400 million to 500 million reais in the first year, and the bank is expected to reach break-even within three years.

The target is the group’s customers and its dealers, who will have access to loans for machines, leasing and investments, followed by a second phase in which the bank will market other services, such as other modes of credit and cash.

Chinese state group XCMG was founded in March 1989, and it has its headquarters in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province and has subsidiaries in several countries and continents. (macauhub)