But "the capital amount we need may be bigger" than that required by the other restructured banks, he said.

The bank has about 300 billion in bad assets generated by lending to meet government policies and some special loans, Han said.

Xinhua said that the bank is likely to get a $25 billion to $30 billion capital infusion in the first half of the year.

Han said it is too early to talk about that, as well as other reform details, such as introducing strategic investors or an initial public offering.

He stressed that the bank will not further cut its branch network and staff size this year during the restructuring.

It closed 24,000 branches and pared its workforce by 170,000 jobs over the past few years.

It still has the largest banking network, with 24,900 branches and 452,000 employees nationwide.

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