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**ISLAMABAD, May 13 (APD) ** -- The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has issued a license to Bank of China (BoC) to open its first branch in Pakistan, an official statement said on Saturday evening.
According to a statement released by the Finance Ministry of Pakistan, Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar called on Bank of China’s Chairman Tian Guoli at the Bank’s headquarter in Beijing on Saturday on the sidelines of Belt and Road Forum, and conveyed the official approval in this regard.
The Minister also invited Tian to visit Pakistan to inaugurate bank's first branch.
First branch of Bank of China will be set up in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi. The Bank will gradually expand its network to other cities of the country.
The bank is expected to commence its business after meeting regulatory requirements, and is expected to start its operations in branch mode.
BoC operates on mainland China and has footprints in more than 50 countries across the globe, with 19 of those countries located across China's "Belt and Road" initiative. At the end of 2015, the bank had a total of 11,633 institutions, including 644 in countries outside China.
BoC is the fourth and fifth largest global bank in terms of Tier-1 capital and total assets respectively. It is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The bank will initially bring $50 million to fulfill the minimum capital requirements of Pakistan’s central bank SBP.
The BoC aims to provide differential and specialized banking services to effectively serve financing needs of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) related projects by leveraging on its experience and global technology platforms, the statement said.
It is the second Chinese bank entering the Pakistani market after Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited whose two branches are already operating in Pakistani cities of Islamabad and Karachi since 2011.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
