Chinese Consul General in Houston Li Qiangmin (third from left), Dominic Ng (fourth from left), chairman and CEO of East West Bank (EWB), and Wendy Cai-Lee (right), executive vice-president of EWB, join in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. MAY ZHOU / CHINA DAILY

Local business and community leaders joined East West Bank (EWB) to celebrate the opening of its new Houston regional offices on Tuesday. The new offices are a move to enhance EWB's commercial banking presence and corporate image.

Guests included Chinese Consul General in Houston Li Qiangmin, Texas State Representative Gene Wu and Spring Valley Village Mayor Tom Ramsey, among others.

The new offices include a 3,500-square-foot commercial banking center on the first floor, and a 20,000-square-foot Texas regional office on the third floor.

"These offices were built as the bank's very first prototype of a commercial banking center and crystallize the bank's vision of how our future branches and offices will look and function," said Wendy Cai-Lee, executive vice-president at EWB.

The offices are digitally enhanced with interactive kiosks and multi-media technology.

In addition, EWB also celebrated the grand opening of its new 7,220-square-foot Dallas commercial banking center on Wednesday.

EWB extended its Texas market presence by acquiring local Metro Bank which was headquartered in Chinatown. While its regional office is moving to the more prominent location by Katy Freeway, its Chinatown location will remain open and continue to serve the Chinese community.

"More than 40 years ago, we started as a savings and loan serving new Chinese immigrant families and have grown into one of the 30 largest public banks in the US," said Cai-Lee.

"Today, we remain unmatched in our ability to serve the Chinese-American community thanks to our cultural heritage and unique core competencies."

In addition to upgrading facilities, EWB has brought in an energy team to focus on the oil and gas business.

"Our deposits have grown, loans have grown, and additionally we've added a lot of new products like foreign currency exchange and international trade," said Dominic Ng, chairman and CEO of EWB. "I think there is no better opportunity to enter the energy market than right now."

At the opening celebration, Ng unveiled a piece of art he recently acquired and displayed in the lobby at the regional office. Titled Under Heaven, it is the work of young Shanghai artist Xu Zhen and shows a God's-eye-view from above.

"Its primary color is red which symbolizes prosperity for Chinese," said Ng.

EWB, publicly owned and headquartered in California, focuses exclusively on the United States and Greater China markets with more than 130 locations worldwide.

Chinese Consul General Li Qiangmin said that there are more than 100 Chinese companies in Texas and the economic ties between the two countries are stronger than ever.

"EWB is a bridge between the two not only because you have a financial network in China but also because you have a deeper understanding of Chinese culture," said Li.

"There are tremendous opportunities between the US and Greater China, we are happy to play a support role in financing and advice," said Ng.

mayzhou@chinadailyusa.com