Postal Savings Bank launches operations
21 March 2007
China Postal Savings Bank plans to set up a network of outlets during
the first half of the year. The bank, now China's fifth-largest, officially
began operations yesterday in a low-profile launch ceremony, the South China Morning Post
reported. The bank is a spinoff of the State Post Bureau and intends
to become a full service bank. The lender will also apply to
become a qualified domestic institutional investor (QDII), which would allow
it to invest overseas on behalf of its account holders. The bank is designed to cover underserved
rural areas and should immediately benefit from the nationwide
network of 36,000 post offices, 60% of which are in the countryside.