On April 11, Bank of China (BOC) spokesperson Wang Zhaowen
refuted rumors that the Royal Bank of Scotland was going to buy a
stake in BOC, calling it "unreal."
Wang said the BOC is now negotiating with around ten potential
overseas strategic investors, but refused to identify who they
were. However, he did confirm that the Bank of America was involved
in multi-billion dollar investment talks.
Media speculation began more than a week ago, after the Beijing
representative office of the Bank of America revealed on April 4
that it was considering investing up to US$2 billion for a stake in
a large Chinese bank.
Earlier in Hong Kong, Bank of America's CEO Ken Lewis had made a
statement saying that it was considering purchasing a stake in a
Chinese bank for future strategic cooperation, but did not specify
which. A 5 percent stake in the BOC would cost US$1.5 billion.
An authority from the BOC also disclosed that it would probably
cooperate with one of its selected overseas investors – the Bank of
America – on credit card business.
On March 2, the BOC signed a cooperation agreement with the
Export-Import Bank of Korea. They agreed to work together in areas
such as financing, trust, export credit information exchange and
consulting.
China's finance sector will be completely open to foreign
capital in 2006.
(China.org.cn, Chinanews.cn April 13, 2005)