Update | China to take 'up to 30 per cent stake' in AIIB development bank

Proposal put forward at a meeting of the lender's founders to discuss the running of the international development bank, according to sources

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Delegates met in Singapore to discuss how the bank will be run. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 1:30pm, 22 May 2015Updated: 4:39pm, 22 May 2015

China will probably take a 25-30 per cent stake in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and India is likely to be the second-largest shareholder, delegates attending a meeting of the lender’s founding members said on Friday.

The bank will also be operational by the end of this year, prospective founding members said after a three-day meeting in Singapore to discuss policies.

Secretary General JIN Liqun; Mr. SHI Yaobin, Vice Finance Minster, China; Mr. YEE Ping Yi Deputy Secretary of Singaporean Ministry of Finance; and delegates to the 5th CNM gathered in Singapore for a group photo. Photo: AIIB

The chief negotiators’ meeting involving the AIIB’s 57 prospective members “concluded discussions and finalised the articles of agreement for the AIIB,” said a statement by the bank’s interim multilateral secretariat.

The articles of agreement are expected to be “ready for signing by the end of June and the AIIB would be operational by the end of this year,” the statement said.

“In the three-day meeting, the chief negotiators also discussed the draft environmental and social framework and draft procurement policy framework, among other topics,” it added.

The meeting in Singapore, the fifth round of talks since the bank was mooted in October, was co-chaired by Shi Yaobin, China’s vice-minister of finance, and Yee Ping Yi, deputy secretary of Singapore’s finance ministry.