Macau Association of Banks Vice-president Sam Tou has said his association means to form an alliance of commercial banks in Macao and the Portuguese-speaking world, Lusa reports.

Mr Tou said the alliance was one of the main projects of a new committee of the association which deals with financial services to facilitate economic engagement by China and lusophone countries, according to a report carried by the Portuguese news agency last Saturday.

Among the members of the committee are representatives of Banco Nacional Ultramarino SA, the Bank of China Macau Branch, Well Link Bank and the Haitong Bank Macau Branch, the report says.

It quotes Mr Tou as saying representatives of his association and of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries Executive Secretariat met online last month.

The Macau Association of Banks and its counterparts in lusophone countries have been working on setting up a network for close cooperation, Lusa  quotes Mr Tou as saying.