Scotland bank in US$3.1b deal for BOC stake
By Su Bei (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-19 05:47

BOC Chairman Xiao Gang said the co-operation with RBS is a key step in his bank's joint stock reform.

"It is crucial to transforming our operational structure, enhancing the internal management, improving the competitiveness and promoting profitability," he said.

Wang Jianxi, vice-chairman of China SAFE Investments Ltd, the major shareholder of BOC, said bringing in international strategic investors is an important step in the deepening of the reform of the State-owned commercial banks in China.

Through strategic co-operation with RBS, BOC will be able to further enhance its corporate governance and internal control, he said.

BOC, which won a US$22.5 billion capital injection from the State in late 2003, was chosen by the government as a pilot in banking reform. It reorganized itself into Bank of China Limited, a joint-stock company, last August.

By the end of June, the bank's non-performing credit rate declined to 4.38 per cent, from 5.12 per cent at the end of last year.