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. 'There are economies of scale from combining these operations under one roof,' Mr Lam said. The study, expected to be concluded early next year, will decide how many subsidiaries are to be included and how best to combine their computer systems, internal audits and management. The study parallels a move underway in London which aims to encompass Bank of China's worldwide merchant banking operations under one holding company, Bank of China International Holdings (BCIH). BCIH will group the newly-established merchant bank in London, Bank of China International (UK), the first British-incorporated bank with mainland Chinese capital and the only mainland bank with a branch in London. However, the group has stated that the international holding company would not put the Hong Kong operations under its wing. The drive to consolidate separate operations of the group in various holding companies has been one of the group's main aims in recent years. The foreign exchange dealings of the group's 14 'brother banks' have been unified under the Group Treasury Centre of the bank's Hong Kong branch in 1994. The group's credit card operations, previously co-ordinated by Nanyang Commercial Bank, wrer shifted to a new entity called BOC Credit Card (International) in 1995. Currently, the group is entering the final stage of co-ordinating the inter-bank placings of its member banks. UNITY GAME Merchant banking subsidiary spearheads study Two investment and fund management companies planned Economies of scale expected