Bank of China to maintain strategic Royal Bank of Scotland tie

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-13 22:36

BEIJING - Bank of China (BOC) said here on Monday it would maintain its strategic partnership with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) though the latter was nationalized by the British government amid the unfolding financial crisis.

Spokesman Wang Zhaowen said a strategic cooperation between BOC and RBS had generated achievements over the last few years in many aspects and "BOC will maintain strategic cooperative relations with RBS and jointly push forward the development of this strategic tie."

RBS was receiving a 20 billion British pounds (US$34.7 billion) cash injection from the UK government, which gave the government a 60-percent share in the country's fourth-largest bank.

RBS became BOC's strategic investor in 2005 when the British bank paid 3.048 billion U.S. dollars for a 8.25 percent stake and became the largest overseas shareholder in the Chinese bank.