China Development Bank, one of the country's three policy lenders, is hoping to receive a government capital injection of at least $20 billion as part of its transformation into a commercial bank, the China Daily said on Monday. The bank's proposed restructuring plan is currently being reviewed by the State Council, China's cabinet, the paper said, citing an unnamed source.
CDB is in talks with Central Huijin, the central bank's investment arm, on the terms of a capital injection, the paper said. Beijing has chosen CDB to be the first of the policy lenders to be restructured into a commercial entity. In an early move towards that aim, the bank last month bought an initial stake of 3.1 percent in Barclays Bank Plc.
Domestic media said over the weekend that Beijing was also set to inject $40 billion into Agricultural Bank of China. AgBank's injection would also be conducted by Central Huijin, the Economic Observer said, making it the last big state-owned commercial lender to be bailed out by the government. Beijing has injected a total of $60 billion into the country's other three commercial banking giants - Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank.