Head office of BRICS bank takes shape in Shanghai

Work on the new office of the BRICS New Development Bank was completed on Friday in Lujiazui, the financial district of Shanghai, and is expected to start functioning soon.

The new office is on the eighth floor of the 99.4-meter-high China Financial Information Center, a 22-story tower that hosts Xinhua News Agency's financial information arm and several other financial services providers, including a precious metal exchange.

The new office covers a space of 2,000 square meters including public facilities and more than 50 rooms. The room for the president of the bank is about 20 sq m, with a clear view of the Lujiazui area and the Huangpu River.

A source with the maintenance department of the building said average rentals in the building are between 12 yuan ($1.93) and 15 yuan per sq m per day. The average per day rental price of the Lujiazui area is about 12 yuan per sq m, while the highest rental in the area may reach up to 16 yuan, according to data from DTZ, a realty services provider. The source did not tell the rental price for the facility occupied by the new BRICS lender.

The tower, which was launched in 2014, is among the newest office buildings in the Lujiazui area which has limited land supplies. It is within walking distance from major financial services office buildings in Lujiazui, including the to-be-launched China's tallest building - the Shanghai Tower and Shanghai International Financial Center, which hosts several multinational banks' regional headquarters.

The new office is a provisional location for operations of the BRICS bank, and it may eventually move to the Shanghai Expo Park area when it offers larger space.