SHANGHAI, May 26, 2009 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX) -- China Bohai Bank, in which UK-based Standard Chartered plc takes a 19.99 percent stake, announced the formal operation of a branch in Shanghai, the financial hub of China, on May 25.
It is the eighth branch the Chinese commercial lender opened across the country and based on the branches, it has established a sound marketing networking covering Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Hangzhou, the Yangtze Rive Delta region and the around Bohai Sea region.
It plans to establish five or six more this year and lift the total number of its branches nationwide to 20 next year, said Liu Baofeng, chairman of the lender. By then, it will have a marketing network consisting of 20 branches and 50 to 60 subbranches. Now, it is busy in drafting its second five-year growth plan, and according to which, it aims to be listed three years later.
As at the end of March 2009, its assets totaled CNY 81.59 billion. Deposits reached CNY 63.96 billion and loans hit CNY 48.48 billion, soaring 27.6 percent and 21.6 percent from the start of the year, up 10 and 11 percentage points from the nation's averages. As at April 30, its non-performing loan ratio was 0.2 percent, down 0.05 percentage points from the year start. Capital adequacy ratio exceeded 10 percent and provision coverage touched 530 percent.
The bank achieved about 40 percent of its full-year goal in the first quarter of this year and the proportion will be lifted to around 80 percent by the end of the first half of the year. In order to stabilize capital adequacy ratio, it intends to issue not more than CNY 3 billion subordinated bonds. Its total assets is expected to exceed CNY 100 billion by the end of this year.
Bohai Bank was founded in Tianjin in December 2005 with a registered capital of CNY 5 billion and kicked off formal operation in February 2006. Tianjin TEDA Investment Holding Co., Ltd. acts as its biggest shareholder via taking a 25 percent stake in it. Standard Chartered and China Ocean Shipping Companies Group take the following places via controlling a 19.99 percent stake and a 13.67 percent stake, respectively. Shanghai Baosteel Group and State Development and Investment Corp. each holds an 11.67 percent stake in the bank.
