China's sixth largest lender, China Merchants Bank (CMB), announced on Tuesday that it had completed the 17 billion yuan (2.48 billion U.S. dollars) purchase for 53.12 percent of Wing Lung Bank's equity.

Ma Weihua, CMB's president, would serve as Wing Lung Bank's board chairman, while CMB's vice president Zhang Guanghua would act as the vice chairman of the family-run bank based in Hong Kong, according to the public announcement of the Shanghai-listed CMB.

There are currently ten members in the Wing Lung Bank's board of directors, with five from the CMB and the others from Wing Lung.

Ma said the recent global financial turmoil had relatively small impacts on the two banks and would not diminish the strategic importance of CMB's purchase action.

He added that the CMB had a positive view of the economic prospects in both the country's mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. He believed this stake purchase was in line with the CMB's strategic development goals.

Incorporated in 1933, Wing Lung has developed into the fourth largest bank in the special administrative region of China. Enditem

(Xinhua News Agency October 1, 2008)