Bank of China to speed up overseas acquisitions

Bank of China Ltd<601988><3988>, one of the big four state-owned banks in the nation said on Monday it will speed up overseas acquisition, and the target regions include America, Asia-Pacific, etc, market sources reported.

President of the lender Xiao Gang made the remarks but declined to reveal any details on takeover issue.

The report did not specify the acquisition target is in North America or South America or both.

The bank plans to maintain new-added loans in 2008 at last year's level, however, earnings from loans will see a rise, Xiao said.

Its A-shares closed at RMB 5.2 on Friday, edged down 1.5% from the previous trading day.