China’s postal savings bank is to open by the end of this year, said Cai Esheng, vice-chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC). The new bank will take over the savings business of China Post, which is to be restructured into a postal service group, and will become a joint-stock bank and go public in the future.

China Post has a massive network of 36,000 post offices across the country with about 70 percent in rural areas, each with a savings service section.

The postal savings bank will become the country’s fifth largest bank after the big four state-owned commercial banks — the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Bank of China, the China Construction Bank and the Agricultural Bank of China.

According to CBRC figures, the postal savings arm of China Post had deposits of 1,516 billion yuan (189.5 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of July, ranking the sixth after the big four banks and the Rural Credit Cooperatives. ( People’s Daily )

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