Baoshang Bank gets OK to transfer business, assets

Baoshang Bank Co Ltd, an Inner Mongolia-based commercial lender, received regulatory approval for a transfer of its business, assets and liabilities to Mengshang Bank Co Ltd and Huishang Bank Corp Ltd, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said in a notice on Thursday.

According to the overall principle of the transfer, starting from Thursday, the business, assets and liabilities of the head office and various branches of Baoshang Bank in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region are undertaken by Mengshang Bank, while those of its branches outside Inner Mongolia are undertaken by Huishang Bank. The creditor's rights at Baoshang Bank that are not secured by China's deposit insurance fund will still remain at the bank, the commission said.

As a lot of details, such as banking system switchover and the replacement of seals, is still in progress, clients and relevant right holders of Baoshang Bank can still do business at the bank's branches or through its channels of online banking, mobile banking and phone banking.

Ever since the distressed Baoshang Bank was taken over by the commission and the People's Bank of China on May 24 last year, it has completed the acquisition and transfer of large-denomination creditor's rights, as well as asset and capital verification.

After the reform and restructuring of the bank was launched in October, to handle the bank's risks safely and protect the legitimate interests of its clients and employees to the greatest extent, the Deposit Insurance Fund Management Co Ltd joined hands with finance departments at the level of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and the city of Baotou and some enterprises to set up a new bank named Mengshang Bank, said an official of the team in charge of the takeover during an interview with the Beijing-based newspaper Financial News.

Established on Thursday, the new bank is an Inner Mongolia-based city commercial lender with registered capital of 20 billion yuan ($2.84 billion). Its business scope is limited to Inner Mongolia, with the aim of serving the economic and social development of the autonomous region.

Huishang Bank, another participant of the transfer, is a city commercial lender headquartered in Hefei, the capital of East China's Anhui province. With registered capital of 12.16 billion yuan, the bank was set up on April 4, 1997. Its total assets reached 1.13 trillion yuan at the end of 2019.