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Increase in city bank stake eyed

(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2007-04-14 20:34

HSBC Holdings Plc is likely to increase its ownership in the Bank ofShanghaiafter Chinese authorities declined to allow it to boost its stake in the Bank of Communications to 51 percent, the Daily Telegraph reported.

HSBC now holds a 19.9 percent stake in Shanghai-based BoCom and eight percent of the Bank of Shanghai. BoCom has been reclassified as one of the country's five big state-owned banks in which foreign investors are barred from taking a controlling interest. HSBC will consider developing its relationship with the Bank of Shanghai, which could mean increasing its holdings in or deepening its collaboration with the lender, the report said, citing an unnamed source close to HSBC.