Understanding the Motivation for and Process of ODI in the financial Sector: based on the case of Chinese multinational Banks

Ying Zhang

Business School, Suzhou Institute of Technology, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhangjiagang, 215600, China

Abstract: Financial globalization and internationalization nowadays may stimulate the outward direct in-vestment of the financial sectors. In the internationalization process, China, as an emerging market, is devel-oping rapidly in economic terms; Chinese banks conduct different cross-border activities to enter into the world market. The purpose of this research is mainly to investigate the internationalization process and pat-tern of Chinese multinational banks; the analysis will also refer to the motivations and experiences of multinational banks overseas. Thus, choosing a representative bank - Bank of China - as a case study will be beneficial to analyse and summarize the ODI pattern from the specific to the general. Based on the findings that have been evaluated from the data and analysis, traditional theoretical statements on an MNE’s outward direct investment could be argued and confirmed ultimately.

Keywords: Outward direct investment; Multinational banks; Motivation; Internationalization process