Bank of China amongst the majors now
The Bank of China (BOC), one of China's four state-owned banks, has become a giant international bank with 533
overseas subsidiaries, according to bank president Wang Xuebing.
Currently, the 85-year-old BOC also has 13,000 subsidiaries in China and more than 1.8 trillion yuan (about $ 219 bn)
in domestic assets and $ 131 bn in overseas assets, Wang said. The BOC, with over 200,000 employees in and outside
China, ranked 26th in capital volume and 31st in total assets among the largest 1,000 banks in the world in 1996,
according to Bankers, a British magazine.
Wang noted that the number of his bank's overseas subsidiaries has almost doubled since China initiated the reform
and opening-up drive in late 1970s, and the overseas business as a whole has expanded several dozen times."Our bank
has followed a globalization strategy since 1993 and our branches in Hong Kong and Macao have become note issuers in
the two places," Wang noted.
