China, India likely to be largest shareholders of AIIB

The signing ceremony of memorandum of understanding on establishing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is held in Beijing, Oct 24 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]

China will likely take a 25-30 percent stake in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and India is likely to be the second-largest shareholder, delegates attending a meeting of the bank's founding members said on Friday.

China's share in the $100 billion lender will be less than 30 percent, an Asian delegate attending the meeting in Singapore told Reuters.

A second delegate said India's share will be between 10 to 15 percent. Both spoke on condition of anonymity.

In all, Asian countries will own between 72-75 percent of the bank, while European and other nations will own the rest.

The three-day meeting is aimed at finalising the draft of articles of agreement that would decide the share of member countries and the bank's initial capital.

A third delegate said the talks have ended and now each country representative would take the proposals back to their governments for a final decision.

The constitution for the AIIB will be signed by founding members in Beijing in late June this year, according to the meeting.

Based on the constitution, the AIIB is expected to be set up by the end of this year.

There was no immediate comment from the AIIB or Chinese officials on the discussions in Singapore.

A total of 57 countries have joined AIIB as its prospective founding members, throwing together countries as diverse as Iran, Israel, Britain and Laos.

The United States and Japan have stayed out of the institution, seen as a rival to the US-dominated World Bank and Japan-led Asian Development Bank, citing concerns about transparency and governance - although Tokyo for one is keeping its options open.

AIIB's expected launch next year is coming at a time when the space for infrastructure lending is already crowded due to the presence of major multilateral lenders and Japan's latest move to provide $110 billion for Asian infrastructure projects.

The amount of Japanese funds, to be invested over 5 years, tops the expected $100 billion capitalisation of the AIIB.