Bank of Nova Scotia, a Canada-based bank, seeks to increase its stake in Xi’an City Commercial Bank from 1.3% to 20% by the end of this year – reported Reuters. Bank of Nova Scotia had made initial investment in the Commercial Bank along with International Finance Corp, the private-sector arm of the World Bank.
Speaking to the newspaper, Brendan King, vice-president for Greater China, Bank of Nova Scotia, said: We’ve had good discussions with our partners and regulators and, in line with the subscription agreements we initially signed back in 2004, we hope by the end of the year progress will be made to see our stake increase in the bank.
At present a single overseas investor can not own more than 20% stake in a Chinese bank. However, the total foreign investment is capped at 25%. Other banks have gone up to the legal maximum 19-20% and that’s an area that would certainly be a goal of ours, he added during a Sino-Canada financial forum in Beijing.
