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Bank of China

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Not to be confused with the Central Bank of China, the central bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan), or the People's Bank of China, the central bank of the People's Republic of China.
Bank of China Limited
Company typeJoint stock company
IndustrieBanking
Gegründet1912
HauptsitzBeijing, PRC
Key people
Li Lihui, President
ProdukteFinanzdienstleistungen
RevenueIncreaseRMB 137,628 billion (2006)[1]
229,237,000,000 renminbi (2015) Edit this on Wikidata
IncreaseRMB 41.9 billion (2006)[1]
Total assets16,815,597,000,000 renminbi (2015) Edit this on Wikidata
Number of employees
209,265
Websitehttp://www.boc.cn

Bank of China Limited (BOC) SSE: 601988 SEHK: 3988 (simplified Chinese: 中国银行; traditional Chinese: 中國銀行; pinyin: Zhōngguó Yínháng; often abbreviated as 中行) is one of the big four state-owned commercial banks of the People's Republic of China. Founded in 1912 to replace the Ta Ching Government Bank, it is the oldest bank in China. From its establishment until 1942, it issued banknotes on behalf of the Central Government along with the "Big Four" banks of the period: the Central Bank of China, Farmers Bank of China and Bank of Communications. Although it initially functioned as the Chinese central bank, it was replaced by the Central Bank of China in 1928. Subsequently, it became a purely commercial bank.

After the Chinese civil war ended in 1949, the Bank of China effectively split into two operations. Part of the bank relocated to Taiwan with the Kuomintang government. It was privatised in 1971 to become the International Commercial Bank of China (中國國際商業銀行). It has subsequently merged with the Taiwan Bank of Communications (Chiao Tung Bank, 交通銀行) to become the Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐國際商業銀行).The Mainland operation is the current entity known as the Bank of China.

It is the second largest lender in China overall, and the 8th largest bank in the world by market capitalization value[2]. Once 100% owned by the central government, via Central Huijin Investment and National Council for Social Security Fund (SSF), an IPO of its shares took place in June 2006, the free float is at present over 26%.

Basic facts

File:Bocdalian.jpg
Bank of China branch in Dalian, China
  • It has over RMB 3 trillion in assets, making it in the Fortune Global 500 for the past 17 years.
  • It is the no.2 lender in China overall, the no.1 lender to non-institutions, and the no.1 foreign exchange lender. (The no.1 lender in China is the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China)
  • In 2002, it made RMB52.7 billion profit, an increase of over 20 per cent from the previous year.
  • 7th tallest building in the world

Ownership

Operations outside of (mainland) China

New York branch.
Bank of China building in Singapore

Bank of China operates as a private enterprise outside of China, but still linked with the state-owned BOC in China.

BOC started operations in Hong Kong in 1917 and has become a major player, challenging British banks in the territory. It became note-issuing bank Hong Kong in 1994; in Macao, it has had note-issuing bank status since 1995

The Hong Kong operations of the Bank of China were regrouped into Bank of China (Hong Kong) in 2001 and later BOCHK got listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in October 2002. Two-thirds of its share capital are in free float. The bank's headquarters in Hong Kong are located in the Bank of China Tower, which was designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei and was opened to the public in 1990 as the tallest building of Hong Kong at that time.

Bank of China became a limited company in August 2004.

It listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (independently from BOCHK) (SEHK:3988) by floating the largest IPO in the world by any institution since 2000 on June 1st, 2006, raising US$9.7 billion. The IPO attracted HK$286 billion (USD 36.7 billion) in retail orders and was the most heavily oversubscribed in the history of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The offer was around 76 times oversubscribed. Although some financial analysts advised caution due to the worrying amounts of non-performing loans, this hardly deterred investors. The IPO share price started at HK$2.95 per share and jumped 15% (to HK$3.40) after the first day of trading.

The bank held another IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2006, raising around 20 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion).

It is the most international of China's banks, with branches on every 'major' continent. Outside of mainland China, BOC also operates in 25 countries including:

Although it is present in the above countries/territories, its operations outside China accounted for less than 4% of the activity of the bank by both profits and assets. Mainland China accounts for 60% of the bank by profits and 76% by assets as at December 2005.

Events in 2005

In the runup to the IPO, BOC solicited long term investors to take strategic stakes in the company. In October 2005, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC announced a $3.1 billion investment which would give the British bank control of just under 10 percent stake in the Bank of China. Further investments were made by Swiss bank UBS AG, and by Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd, who also promised to subscribe for an additional $500 million worth of shares during Bank of China's initial public offering.

The Bank has been investigated by the United States in its money laundering probe related to the superdollars affair.[4]

Events in 2006

References

  1. ^ a b http://www.boc.cn/en/common/third_en_noright.jsp?category=1155524684100
  2. ^ http://money.cnn.com/2006/06/01/news/international/bc.financial.china.boc.reut/?section=money_news_international
  3. ^ http://www.boc.cn/en/common/third.jsp?category=ROOT>en>Information%20Center>BOC%20Network>Overseas%20Branches&pages=1
  4. ^ http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200509/200509080007.html
  5. ^ http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-06/01/content_4632335_2.htm

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