Royal Bank buys into Bank of China
Written by JDPGlobal | Friday, 19 August 2005
The Royal Bank of Scotland, (RBS) is to buy into the Bank of China. It is believed that RBS will receive a ten percent ownership stake in the Chinese banking empire. Economists place the figure at £1.6 billion.
A spokesperson for the Royal Bank said that it would invest over a billion dollars into the Chinese Bank which is ranked as the second largest in China. The deal also involves minority stakes from Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers.
Investors from every sector are all expressing interest in investing in China, not least the banking community which is ranked as the world's largest in terms of potential. Analysts place the size of the banking retail market at over $1.6 trillion.
The negative news is that all the Chinese banks are strapped with debt after years of mis-management.
The news affected RBS's stock price initially but it has since re-gained all losses.
