The chairman of one of China's top banks criticised US authorities Wednesday for obstructing Chinese lenders trying to establish a presence in America and accused them of "unequal treatment".
"The US authorities have been taking a very inactive attitude about China setting up financial institutions in the US. It's an unequal treatment as China has been quite open to US banks," said Guo Shuqing, chairman of China Construction Bank (CCB).
Guo said the expansion-minded bank, fresh from a hugely successful initial public offering (IPO) last month, was seeking to set up branches in the United States and also has not ruled out unspecified acquisitions as it seeks to grow.
"We hope to expand our overseas organisations and facilities gradually and steadily," Guo said at a press conference on the sidelines of China's five-yearly Communist Party Congress.
"We have the interest and have been applying to set up branches or similar organisations in the United States." China's banking regulator warned last month that the country's willingness to let foreign investors boost their stakes in domestic banks could hinge on whether US authorities let Chinese banks operate in the US market, a media report said at the time.
The comments by Liu Mingkang, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, quoted in the Financial Times newspaper, were made in regards to the US licence applications of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Merchants Bank, two other top Chinese banks.
China currently allows single foreign investors to hold up to 20 percent of banks, while total foreign shareholding in a bank is not allowed to exceed 25 percent. Guo also denied a separate report by the New York Times that CCB was in talks on a possible acquisition of US-based brokerage giant Bear Stearns and Co "We are a commercial bank. They are a securities and investment firm. We have no such plans," he said.
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