The Bank of China (BOC) announced yesterday it would improve internal risk control systems after two former branch heads were charged in the US for defrauding the bank of US$485 million.

 

On January 31, the US Justice Department charged Xu Chaofan and Xu Guojun, former managers of BOC's Kaiping branch in south China's Guangdong Province, and their wives with 15 counts including money laundering, racketeering and fraud.

 

From 1991 to 2004, the accused laundered stolen money through Hong Kong, Canada and the US. They were arrested in 2004.

 

The two men created shell corporations in Hong Kong and funneled BOC money into the fake firms and into numerous personal bank and investment accounts. The two bankers then emigrated to the US from China with their wives, Kuang Wanfang and Yu Yingyi, by obtaining false identities and entering into sham marriages with naturalized US citizens.

 

Wang Zhaowen, a BOC spokesperson, said: "We will learn from this lesson, and further beef up internal risk control systems in accordance with good corporate governance to ensure the safety of banking assets and promote the healthy development of the bank.

 

"We will cooperate with international law enforcement departments to punish criminals, recover as much cash as possible, and maintain the safety of the country's economy and finance."

 

Economists said Wang's response to the issue suggests that the bank, the country's largest foreign exchange lender, was trying to improve its image.

 

It is planning to be the second of China's four largest state-owned banks to list overseas, after China Construction Bank (CCB) that listed in Hong Kong last October.

 

Last August, BOC named Bank of China International, Goldman Sachs Group and Swiss bank UBS as financial advisers and lead underwriters for the planned initial public offering.

 

It also signed strategic investment agreements with the Singapore-headquartered Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, UBS and the Asian Development Bank.

 

The agreements enabled the four investors to buy a combined 21.85 percent of the bank's shares for a total of US$6.78 billion.

 

The bank, which received a US$22.5 billion capital injection from the government in late 2003, reorganized itself into a joint-stock company and renamed itself Bank of China Limited in August 2004.

 

By the end of last June, the bank's non-performing credit rate declined to 4.38 percent from 5.12 percent at the beginning of the year.

 

Its capital adequacy ratio was 10.04 percent at the beginning of last year.

 

(China Daily February 7, 2006)