(Yicai Global) April 6 -- Harbin Bank has joined Sberbank CIB’s foreign exchange trading platform, becoming the first Chinese commercial bank able to conduct trades in different currencies on one of central and eastern Europe's leading forex sites, China News Service reported.

Harbin Bank, which is based in northeastern Heilongjiang province that borders Siberia, will now be able to carry out spot, forward and swap transactions of 35 types of currencies against the Chinese yuan or Russian ruble on the Sber CIB Terminal, the report said.

Sberbank has the biggest forex trading volume on Russia’s inter-bank markets, 70 percent of which takes place on the Sber CIB Terminal, it added.

The news will hopefully help rally Harbin Bank’s meagre earnings last year. Profit plunged 79 percent from the year before to CNY745.7 million (USD113.8 million) due to the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. Revenue fell 3.4 percent to CNY14.6 billion (USD2.2 billion). Total assets, though, gained 2.7 percent to CNY598.6 billion (USD91.4 billion).

Harbin Bank’s stock price [HKG:6138] closed down 2 percent at HKD0.98 (USD0.13) today.

Editor: Kim Taylor