City National Partners With Bank of East Asia

Beverly Hills–based City National Bank has formed a joint business alliance with Hong Kong–based Bank of East Asia in an effort to provide more flexible services to U.S. companies doing business in Asia.

Under the agreement, the two financial institutions will refer clients to each other, when appropriate. Companies based in Asia will be referred to City National’s Los Angeles and New York offices.

City National anticipates its U.S. companies to take advantage of the services offered by Bank of East Asia, including local-currency financing and other local banking services such as legal and accounting services. The partnership said it also could help companies looking to establish and manage operations in China.

Bank of East Asia, founded in 1918, has assets of more than $30 billion. The company is traded on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and is one of the constituent stocks in the Hang Seng Index.

City National Corp. has total assets of $14.7 billion. Its subsidiary, City National Bank, operates 55 offices, including 12 full-service regional centers in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area and New York. —Alison A. Nieder