Agricultural Bank of China, one of the country's four largest State-owned commercial banks, plans to offer shares to the public within three years, according to the bank governor Xiang Junbo.

Xiang said at a work conference that he planned to develop the lender into "a bank in which the public can own shares" by 2010.

Meanwhile, the bank should also be built into a "a globally famous bank" by 2012, and into a China-focused modern bank with global operations by 2017, he said.

The Beijing-based bank, with extensive outlets covering urban and rural areas, made profit of 40.5 billion yuan (US$5.6 billion) in 2007.