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China's fifth biggest bank established

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-03-20 16:49

China Post Savings Bank (CPSB), the country's fifth-biggest lender, officially launched in Beijing today, splitting the banking business from its postal system.

Approved byChina Banking Regulatory Commission(CBRC) to open for business last December, the new bank is expected to focus onretailingand intermediary businesses and offer basic financial services in both urban and rural areas.

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TheShanghaiSecurities News reported the CPSB completed registration on March 6, with total registered capital of 20 billion yuan (2.6 billion U.S. dollars).

With its head office inBeijing, the new bank was preparing to open branches and sub-branches in the first half of this year, the sources said.

The inauguration marked a substantial step in China's financial reform, said Liu Andong, chairman of board of the CPSB, at the inauguration.

"(The establishment of the bank) will enhance the development of China's banking sector as well as the vast rural areas," he said.

But he declined to give further details.

Analysts say the establishment of the bank will improve financial services in rural areas by expanding financing channels.

By the end of 2006, postal savings in China amounted to 1.6 trillion yuan, the highest after that of the "big four" state-owned commercial banks -- the Industrial and the CommercialBank of China, the Bank of China, theChina Construction Bankand theAgricultural Bank of China.

Post offices boasted 36,000 outlets nationwide, almost 60 percent of them in rural areas, and 270 million account holders.