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Bank of China

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:This article refers to one of the 'big four' banks in the People's Republic of China. Since 1949, the central bank powers have been transferred to the People's Bank of China.
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Bank of China Limited (BOC; Simplified Chinese: }}}; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; often abbreviated as 中行)() is one of the big four state-owned commercial banks of the People's Republic of China. Founded in 1912, it is the oldest bank in China. It was 100% owned by the central government, via Central Huijin Investment and National Council for Social Security Fund (SSF) in the past but as of June 2006, various non-governmental and foreign investors and shareholders have together held a stake of over 26%.

Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong
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Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong

Bank of China building in Singapore
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Bank of China building in Singapore

Contents

Basic facts

Ownership

Operations outside of (mainland) China

Bank of China operates as a private enterprise outside of China, but still linked with the state-owned BOC in China.

BOC started operations in Hong Kong in 1917 and has become a major player, challenging British banks in the territory.

The Hong Kong operations of the Bank of China were regrouped into Bank of China (Hong Kong) in 2001 and later BOCHK got listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in October 2002. Headquarters of the BOCHK are located in the Bank of China Tower, which was designed by renowned architect I.M.Pei and was opened to the public in 1990 as the tallest building of Hong Kong at that time.

Bank of China became a limited company in August 2004.

It listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (independently from BOCHK) (SEHK:3988) by floating the largest IPO in the world by any institution since 2000 on June 1st, 2006, raising US$9.7 billion. The IPO was the most heavily oversubscribed in the history of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (around 76 times oversubscribed). Although some financial analysts advised caution due to the worrying amounts of non-performing loans, this hardly deterred investors. The IPO share price started at HK$2.95 per share and jumped 15% (to HK$3.40) after the first day of trading.

They plan on hosting another IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange later in 2006, hoping to raise around 20 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion).

BOC also operates outside of mainland China in a number of provinces and countries including:

Expansion

Like many other Chinese companies, BOC has been exploring outside markets and has become less dependent on the state for its day-to-day operations. BOC plans to be a dominant financial sector player in Asia and beyond.

A list of other Chinese financial sector players linked with the People's Bank of China and/or the Bank of China:

Events in 2005

On Wednesday it was disclosed that investors including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and American Express Co., both headquartered in New York, and Allianz AG of Germany had signed a deal to buy a 10 percent stake in China's biggest lender, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, for more than $3 billion. An ICBC official, who spoke on condition he not be named, said the investment would be made after the bank is restructured as a stockholding company in mid-October. The two banks are China's largest state-owned commercial banks. Foreign banks have been staking out strategic alliances in China, hoping to be well-positioned for the eventual full opening of the banking industry to foreign competition in late 2006. Chinese banks are being encouraged to seek such partnerships to help build up their capital and improve management. Reports said the memorandum with ICBC calls for Goldman Sachs to invest between $1.7 billion and $1.8 billion; Allianz would pay about $1 billion, while American Express would buy up to $300 million worth of shares. Earlier this month, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC announced a $3.1 billion investment that will give the British bank control of a 10 percent stake in the Bank of China.

The Bank has been investigated by the United States in its money laundering probe related to the superdollars affair. http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200509/200509080007.html

Events in 2006

References

External links

 

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