Beijing : Bank of China will apply to set up outlets in Taiwan, once details regarding a economic cooperation agreement between Beijing and Taipei have been announced, the bank said yesterday.
Taiwan signed a financial service pact with China in November, allowing its banks to tap China's massive market and paving the way for banks on both sides to invest in each other.
Bank of China, China's largest foreign exchange lender, has completed preparatory work for establishing branches in Taiwan, the bank said in a statement on its website (www.boc.cn).
"Bank of China hopes to be among the first batch of mainland commercial banks to set up branches in Taiwan," it said, one day ahead of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) taking effect on January 16.
Beijing-based Bank of China will begin operations in Taiwan, probably in Taipei's Xinyi District, with 20 to 30 staff, according to the statement.
Analysts expect China's top lenders, such as Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank, to be interested in investing in their Taiwanese counterparts under the MOU.
ICBC is in talks to buy a stake in Taiwan's Cathay Financial in a potential $3.4 billion (Dh12.48 billion) deal that would be the first direct investment by a Chinese bank into a Taiwan financial group, sources told Reuters last month.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's dollar rose, headed for a fourth straight weekly advance, as warming ties with China and signs of a pick up in technology demand helped attract funds to the island's assets. Bonds were little changed.
The government aims to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement with China in the first half of 2010, the official Central News Agency reported.
