Bank of Communications is China’s only Shanghai-based State-owned commercial bank. The bank has 87,000 employees at home and abroad. It has 137 subsidiaries and 2,648 branches in China. It has 11 overseas subsidiaries and representative offices located in New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Macao, Frankfurt, Ho Chi Minh City, London, Sydney and Taipei.

The bank conducts a wide range of businesses, including banking, financing, insurance, securities, lease and trust services. It has three wholly owned subsidiaries: China Bocom Insurance, Bocom International and Bocom Financial Leasing. It is a shareholder of Bocom Schroders, Bocom International Trust, Bocom Life, Dayi Bocom Xingmin Rural Bank, and Shihezi Bocom Rural Bank in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. It is also the largest shareholder of Changshu Commercial Rural Bank.

Bank of Communications was founded in 1908 and is the oldest modern commercial bank in China. It was reconstructed into modern China’s first nationwide joint-stock commercial bank in 1987. It was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in June 2005. Bank of Communications was the first State-owned holding bank to complete financial restructuring, the first large commercial bank to introduce international strategic investment, and the first mainland commercial bank listed overseas.

The bank became the only commercial bank to conduct global cooperation with “Expo 2010 Shanghai China” in 2006. The company returned to the Chinese mainland A-share stock market in May 2007. It ranked 24th in terms of pre-tax profit amongst global banks in 2010. The bank’s total assets were valued at 43 trillion yuan ($6.9 trillion) as of June 30, 2011.

As one of the most competitive banks in China, Bank of Communications is becoming more international and comprehensive. It seeks to establish a superior public holding bank group featuring wealth management services.

The bank’s headquarter is located in the Bocom financial edifice, on 188 and 190 Yincheng Middle Road, Lujiazui District, Shanghai. The edifice was 230 meters high and covered 100,000 square meters of floor space in 2002.