The Bank of China group is to further cement its position as one of the most influential institutions in the region by consolidating its non-retail banking activities in Asia into one holding company.
Deputy chief executive of the bank's Hong Kong-Macau regional office, Lam Kwong-siu, yesterday said the group was exploring ways to unify its businesses outside the commercial banking arena under one legal entity.
The BOC group, commanding one quarter of the territory's deposit base, is intent on tapping the benefits of its formidable scale to wield market influence in merchant banking circles.
The group's merchant banking subsidiary, China Development Finance Co (HK), is spearheading the study and conducting an asset evaluation of the group's various subsidiaries.
The subsidiaries to be contained in the new holding company include CDFC, its broking arm Bank of China Group Securities.
There also will be two investment and fund management companies, Bank of China Group Investment and China Development Investment Management.
'CDFC is assessing how best we can combine our forces to tap the most synergies,' Mr Lam said. 'At present, the various subsidiaries specialise in different areas and operate on their own, but there are overlaps.' The group has affiliates that are also involved in merchant banking, financing and fund management businesses in Hong Kong and Macau called CCIC Finance, Trilease International, China Capital Partners, BOC China Fund, Kiu Kwong Investment Corp and Macau Finance Co.