SENIOR executives from the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank were confident the bank was in a good position to straddle the handover next year after meeting senior Chinese officials yesterday.
The remarks were made by Hongkong Bank's executive director Paul Selway-Swift after he had dined with Hong Kong and Macau AffairsOffice Deputy Director Chen Ziying.
'I believe there will be very consider-able opportunities for us both in Hong Kong and China after 1997,' Mr Selway-Swift said.
'I think the bank is in quite a sound position to get through 1997.' Facing the challenge of the rapidly developing Bank of China in the territory, he said this posed 'a little bit of competition but it doesn't do anybody any harm'.
But Mr Selway-Swift refused to say if he had talked with Mr Chen about the bank's future.
He also declined to predict whether the coming Preparatory Committee plenary meeting would be touching on the bank's affairs.
