Foreign banks take 19% market share
(Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2005-10-11 13:45

Foreign banks in China now command a 19 percent market share of foreign currency lending thanks to their rapid expansion in recent years, a senior banking regulator was quoted Monday as saying.

The foreign banks were trying to expand from their stronghold in the fast-growing coastal regions, including the Yangtze River Delta around Shanghai and the Pearl River Delta around Guangdong, the China Securities Journal quoted Tang Shuangning, vice head of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, as saying.

"Foreign banks have been boosting their market shares constantly and they now command 19 percent of foreign currency lending," Tang was quoted as saying.

The banks had set up 225 branches and 240 representative offices in the country by the end of June with total assets of US$79.6 billion, he said.

Furthermore, 19 foreign institutions had so far bought stakes in 16 Chinese banks with total investment of nearly US$16.5 billion, Tang was quoted as saying.

Bank of America and Singapore's state investment agency, Temasek Holdings, have bought stakes in China Construction Bank, while Bank of China has sold shares to Temasek and to a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.

Chinese banks have been enlisting strategic foreign investors to bring them cash and expertise ahead of full opening of the banking market in late 2006, when foreign lenders are set to win unfettered access to vast yuan business.