The Bank of China’s history began in 1905, when the Qing government established Daqing Hubu Bank[10] (大淸戶部銀行) in Beijing, which was in 1908 renamed to Daqing Bank (大淸銀行). When the Republic of China was established in 1912, Chen Jintao was named head of financial reform in President Sun Yat-sen’s government. Chen Jintao transformed the bank into the Bank of China, becoming its founder.[11][12][13][14]
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 (KMT) government, and was privatized in 1971 to become the International Commercial Bank of China (中國國際商業銀行). In 2002, it merged with Jiaotong Bank (交通銀行) to become the Mega International Commercial Bank. The Mainland operation is the current entity known as the Bank of China.
It is the second largest lender in China overall, and the fifth largest bank in the world by market capitalization value.[8] Once 100% owned by the central government, via China Central Huijin and National Council for Social Security Fund (SSF), an Initial public offering (IPO) of its shares took place in June 2006, the free float is at present over 26%. In the Forbes Global 2000 it ranked as the 4th-largest company in the world.[15]
It is the most globally-active of China’s banks, with branches on every inhabited continent. Outside of mainland China, BOC also operates in 27 countries and areas including Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Russia, Hungary, United States, Panama, Brazil, Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Bahrain, Zambia, South Africa, and a branch office in the Cayman Islands.[16] In December 2010, the Bank of China New York branch began offering renminbi products for Americans.[17] It was the first major Chinese bank to offer such a product.
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.[citation needed]… Read More