HONG KONG - Bank of China (BOC), the nation's second-largest bank, hopes to break into the US by buying a consumer finance firm for about 2.0 billion dollars, according to a report.

As foreign banks expand into the mainland, China's banks are also seeking assets abroad, the South China Morning Post said.

A Bank of China branch in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province. Bank of China hopes to break into the US by buying a consumer finance firm for about 2.0 billion dollars, the South China Morning Post reported. [newsphoto/file]

The bank, 10 percent owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, Britain's second-largest bank, hoped to use the technology and know-how it would gain from an overseas acquisition to help it expand its overall business, the newspaper said.

Morgan Stanley's Discover Card business is on the block but at an estimated 10 billion dollars or more that would be too high for BOC, which has started looking at possible targets, the report said, citing an unnamed source.

"Their comfort level is around 2.0 billion US dollars," the source said.

However, the lender denied such plans.

"Bank of China currently has no overseas investment plan," BOC spokeswoman Bai Minhui said.

The report said any attempt by a Chinese institution to take over a US financial company could face political opposition similar to the problems encountered when Chinese oil company CNOOC tried to buy Unocal in 2005.

That deal was eventually abandoned in the face of strident opposition to important US assets being controlled by Chinese interests.