The China Banking
Regulatory Commission gave approval Tuesday to the
establishment of China Construction Bank Corporation and China
Construction Bank Group Inc., a bank spokesman announced
Wednesday.
The move is part of the restructuring of China Construction
Bank, one of the country's Big Four commercial banks and the pilot
project in the ongoing financial system reform.
China Construction Bank Corporation will continue to operate the
institution's commercial banking business, including its domestic
and foreign currency deposits, loans, banking cards and clearance,
the spokesman said. Plans call for it to make an initial public
offering at an as-yet-undecided future date.
The business names, trademarks, Internet domain names and
service call numbers of China
Construction Bank and its branches will remain unchanged.
China Construction Bank Group will be a shareholder in the
corporation, but will not directly operate the commercial banking
business.
The spokesman said the two would be officially established in 90
days.
"The establishment of the two companies indicates that China
Construction Bank's shareholding reform has made an important
stride forward," he said.
China Construction Bank, which won a US$22.5 billion bailout
from the central government in late December, was chosen by as a
pilot project to turn it into a joint stock bank.
Early on in the restructuring, bank President Zhang Enzhao was
widely quoted as saying the bank would be listed simultaneously on
the stock markets in New York, Hong Kong and the mainland this year
or next. But in a press conference in April, Zhang said the time
and venue of the bank's planned listing had yet to be decided and
would take place "when internal and external conditions are
ripe."
The bank is wooing foreign corporate investment.
"Our goal is to establish a modern shareholding commercial bank
that will make us a competitive heavyweight in the global financial
market," said Zhang.
During the first quarter, the bank earned 16.0 billion yuan
(US$1.9 billion) in operating profit, an increase of 32.4 percent
from a year ago.
At the end of March, the bank's non-performing loan ratio was
8.8 percent, a drop of 0.35 percentage point from the beginning of
the year.
(China Daily June 10, 2004)