Asia, as everyone knows, is the largest and most densely populated continent. It beats all the world's geographic records, from the highest mountain (Mount Everest, 8,849 metres above sea level), to the lowest sea (the Dead Sea, 417 metres below sea level).

Bordered to the North by the Arctic Ocean, to the East by the Pacific and to the South by the Indian Ocean, Asia abounds in a variety of natural resources including oil, forests, fish, water, rice, copper and silver. Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism have long permeated the region. Trade and industry have always been present in East Asia, the crossroads of Indian and Chinese civilisations, and the eastern boundaries of the Muslim civilisation.

In this promising environment, Banque de l’Indochine was founded in what is now Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Nicknamed the “French Bank” it was established in Saigon 125 years ago with the aim of expanding throughout the Far East. The French government authorised it to print bank notes in the French colonies of the Asia Pacific region, which greatly facilitated the bank’s commercial banking activities in the Far East.

In 1894 a branch was opened in Hong Kong and shortly afterwards, in 1898, the bank set up in China, at a time when diplomacy alone was no longer sufficient to handle trade negotiations.

• The alliance between diplomacy and finance proved remarkably efficient, and the bank continued to expand, with the opening of an entity in Singapore in 1905.
  
  During the Great Depression, the bank’s presence prevented the collapse of Indochina. After 1939 it had to survive the war and the Japanese occupation. Following the French defeat by the Viet Minh, it ceased to issue bank notes and became a merchant bank.
  
  In 1975 Banque de l’Indochine merged with Banque de Suez and the Union des Mines to form Banque Indosuez. Following the acquisition by Crédit Agricole in 1996, it became Crédit Agricole Indosuez, and after the merger with Crédit Lyonnais, it took the name of Calyon — which has now become Crédit Agricole CIB.
  
  Later, other events would give fresh impetus to the bank’s Asian history, the most recent being the opening of Crédit Agricole Suisse subsidiaries.
  
  Crédit Agricole Suisse has been active in private banking in Singapore since 2003, when the Crédit Lyonnais branch was established, and in Hong Kong since 2007. Prior to that, local private banking teams carried on their business under the auspices of the parent company. Now the branches are strategically located in these two major financial centres, which benefit from a favourable legal and tax environment for investors and are managed directly from Switzerland.
  
  Singapore-based Yong-Chong Ho describes Hong Kong and Singapore as “global metropolises and the only two major international financial centres in Asia, with a highly skilled workforce, vast resources, and the efficient infrastructure needed to underpin that position.” Most of the major corporations in the region have chosen to set up their regional headquarters in one of the two cities.