Zhou Qingyu, spokesman for the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), declared on Wednesday that reports concerning the bank's restructuring plan by some overseas media were fabricated.

"The overseas media reports concerning the bank's shareholding reform were false," said Zhou.

According to one of the "false reports", the bank "has received approval from the State Council for its long-delayed restructuring plan leading to an initial public offering".

The "false report" said that "central to the plan" are a series of expected tax breaks aimed at compensating the mainland's second largest lender by assets for its mandate to provide low-margin services to the poorer rural sector".

The ABC is the only one of the four largest state-owned banks that still has not completed shareholding reform and been listed on the stock market.

China initiated the reform of the "big four" banks after the First National Financial Work Conference in 1997.

The China Construction Bank was listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange in October 2005 and on the mainland stock market this September, while the Bank of China was listed in Hong Kong in June 2006 and in Shanghai in July 2006.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country's largest commercial bank, was listed on the Shanghai stock exchange and the Hong Kong stock exchange simultaneously in October 2006.

The guidelines for the ABC's shareholding reform set by the central government at the Third National Financial Work Conference this January include "serving the rural economy, farmers and rural areas, operating commercially and going public when conditions are mature".

Zhou said everything went smoothly for the shareholding reform, but did not reveal whether the plan had been submitted to the State Council or the cabinet.

(Xinhua News Agency December 6, 2007)