|
BEIJING: The chairman of one of China’s top banks
criticized US authorities Wednesday for obstructing Chinese lenders
trying to establish a presence in America and accused them of
“unequal treatment.”
“The US authorities have been
taking a very inactive attitude about China setting up financial
institutions in the US. It’s an unequal treatment as China has
been quite open to US banks,” said Guo Shuqing, chairman of China
Construction Bank (CCB).
Guo said the expansion-minded
bank, fresh from a hugely successful initial public offering (IPO)
last month, was seeking to set up branches in the United States and
also has not ruled out unspecified acquisitions as it seeks to grow.
“We hope to expand our overseas
organizations and facilities gradually and steadily,” Guo said at
a press conference on the sidelines of China’s five-yearly
Communist Party Congress.
“We have the interest and have
been applying to set up branches or similar organizations in the
United States.”
China’s banking regulator
warned last month that the country’s willingness to let foreign
investors boost their stakes in domestic banks could hinge on
whether US authorities let Chinese banks operate in the US market, a
media report said at the time.
The comments by Liu Mingkang,
chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, quoted in the
Financial Times newspaper, were made in regards to the US license
applications of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and
China Merchants Bank, two other top Chinese banks.
China currently allows single
foreign investors to hold up to 20 percent of banks, while total
foreign shareholding in a bank is not allowed to exceed 25 percent.
Guo also denied a separate report
by the New York Times that CCB was in talks on a possible
acquisition of US-based brokerage giant Bear Stearns and Co.
“We are a commercial bank. They
are a securities and investment firm. We have no such plans,” he
said.
--AFP
|
