The Commonwealth Bank today hosted representatives from more than 100 leading Chinese corporates at its Sydney Innovation Lab, to showcase the bank’s leadership in innovation and technology, and strengthen its relationships in one of the world’s fastest growing economies.

The Chinese corporate delegation is visiting Australia as part of a tour coordinated by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), the largest institution for the promotion of Chinese foreign trade.

CCPIT Chairman Jiang Zengwei attended the event along with Commonwealth Bank Group Executive Institutional Banking and Markets (IB&M) Kelly Bayer Rosmarin. The visit coincides with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to Australia.

Commonwealth Bank has an established history of working with Chinese companies and last year became the first Australian bank to partner with China’s Alipay, the world’s largest mobile and online payment platform.

During the event, Chinese executives were guided through the Innovation Lab and provided with an overview of the bank’s capabilities in blockchain, trade finance, emerging technology, data analytics and payments innovation.

Ms Bayer Rosmarin said the event was an important step in building ties between the bank and Chinese companies, and an opportunity to demonstrate the bank’s global approach to innovation.

“China continues to grow in significance as a trade partner for Australia, and visits such as this enable us to reinforce our strategy of capturing a greater share of cross border trade, investment and foreign exchange flows both from Chinese clients engaging in Australia, and our Australian clients engaging in China,” Ms Bayer Rosmarin said.

Commonwealth Bank’s IB&M division has offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. IB&M works with Chinese clients that have connections to Australia and New Zealand in industries as diverse as healthcare, education, real estate, food and agribusiness; or that operate within its specialist sectors of natural resources, industrials and logistics, financial institutions and infrastructure.

Commonwealth Bank’s Innovation Lab in Sydney connects customers, corporate clients, employees and start-ups to the latest developments in financial technology. Last year, the bank opened new Labs in Hong Kong and London to create a global network.

“Innovation is in our DNA and so we are delighted to be able to showcase the Lab to this delegation. Our Hong Kong Lab continues to go from strength to strength with 4,000 people passing through in its first year of operation, many of whom were corporates from Mainland China, and we’d love to build on that this year,” Ms Bayer Rosmarin concluded.