Harbin Bank, in Heilongjiang province says it has plans to expand its business with Russia and cooperation with Russian banks, Heilongjiang Daily reports, on Oct 19, noting that the bank has People’s Bank of China designation as one of four Russian rouble dealers in China’s foreign exchange and a China-Russia cross-border cash bank to increase cooperation with a group of Russian banks.

The bank has a long history of business with Russian counterparts in currency exchanges, inter-bank cooperation and cross-border funding and, last year, set up a department specializing in Russian financial services. It has developed 65 financial products for Russian business, in deposits, clearing, settlements, and financing and, by the end of this past June was cooperating with 119 agencies in Russia and had China’s largest number of Russian accounts.

The bank has had agreements with two leading Russian banks - Sberbank (Savings Bank of Russia) and Russia’s Foreign Trade Bank - since 2014, and it has used about 1.5 billion yuan ($234 million) for loans with Russian banks and has developed innovative financial businesses with Russian banks.

In early September, Harbin Bank worked with two other banks in Inner Mongolia in signing a 1-year agreement with Sterbank for inter-bank lending, the first multi-lateral cooperation for a Chinese banking consortium.