page_title: Bank of China
section_title: Timeline of overseas activities
hierarchical_section_title: Bank of China / Timeline of overseas activities
caption_attribution_description: English: BOC International (China) Limited in Shenyang
context_page_description: Bank of China is one of the four biggest state-owned commercial banks in China. Bank of China is legally separate from its subsidiary Bank of China, although they maintain close relations in management and administration and co-operate in several areas including reselling BOC's insurance and securities services.
  It was founded in 1912 by the Republican government to replace the Daqing Bank. It is the second oldest bank in mainland China still in existence. From its establishment until 1942, it issued banknotes on behalf of the Government along with the "Big Four" banks of the period: the Farmers Bank of China, Bank of Communications and Central Bank of the Republic of China. Its headquarters are in Xicheng District, Beijing.
  As of 31 December 2009, it was the second-largest lender in China overall, and the fifth-largest bank in the world by market capitalization value.
  As of end 2017, it was the fourth-largest bank in the world in terms of assets, ranked after the other three Chinese banks.
context_section_description: 1917: BOC opened a branch in Hong Kong.
  1929: BOC opened its first overseas branch in London. The branch managed the government's foreign debt, became a center for the bank's management of its foreign exchange, and acted as an intermediary for China's international trade.
  1931: BOC opened a branch in Osaka.
  1936: BOC opened a branch in Singapore to handle remittances to China of overseas Chinese. It also opened an agency in New York.
  1937: On the outbreak of hostilities with Japan, Japanese forces blockaded China's major ports. BOC opened a number of branches in Batavia, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Haiphong, Hanoi, Rangoon, Bombay, and Calcutta to facilitate the gathering of remittances and the flow of military supplies. It also opened sub-agencies in Surabaya, Medan, Dabo, Xiaobo, Batu Pahat, Baichilu, Mandalay, Lashio, Ipoh, and Seremban.
  1941-1942: The Japanese conquest of Southeast Asia forced BOC to close all overseas its branches, agencies, sub-branches and sub-agencies, except London, New York, Calcutta, and Bombay. Nevertheless, in 1942, it managed to set up six new overseas branches, such as in Sydney, (Australia), Liverpool, and Havana, and possibly Karachi.
  1946: BOC reopened its branches and agencies in Hong Kong, Singapore, Haiphong, Rangoon, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, and Jakarta. It moved the Hanoi agency to Saigon. At the suggestion of the Allied Forces Headquarters, it liquidated the branch in Osaka and opened a sub-branch in Tokyo.
  1947: BOC opened agencies in Bangkok, Chittagong, and Tokyo.
  1950: After victory of Communist forces in the civil war, some branches (ex. Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Calcutta, Bombay, Chittagong, and Karachi) of Bank of China joined the bank headquartered in Beijing, while others (ex. New York, Tokyo, Havana, Bangkok, and one other, possibly Panama) opted to remain with the Bank of China headquartered in Taipei. In 1971, this bank took the name International Commercial Bank of China.
  1963: The Burmese government nationalized all banks, foreign and domestic, including the Bank of China's Rangoon branch.
  1971: The Bank of China transferred its two branches in Karachi and Chittagong to the National Bank of Pakistan.
  1975: The Republic of South Vietnam nationalized the Bank of China's branch in Saigon and the Khmer Rouge government nationalized its Phnom Penh branch.
  1979: BOC opened a branch in Luxembourg, which gradually became its European headquarters through the 1990s.
  1981: BOC opened a branch in New York.
  1985: BOC opened a branch in Paris (France)
  1987: BOC became an ordinary member of the LBMA.
  1992: BOC opens a representative office in Toronto.
  1993: Bank of China (Canada) established to conduct business in Canada as a Schedule II bank.
  2001: Kwangtung Provincial Bank was closed and merged under Bank of China, Singapore Branch.
  2002: Bank of China Futures Pte Ltd wound up operations in Singapore.
  2005: In the runup to its initial public offering, BOC solicited long term investors to take strategic stakes in the company, including a $3.1 billion investment by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and further investments by Swiss bank UBS AG and Temasek Holdings (who also promised to subscribe for an additional $500 million worth of shares during the IPO). The Bank was also investigated by the United States in its money laundering probe related to the superdollars affair.
  2006: BOC's listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on June 1, 2006 was the largest IPO since 2000 and the fourth largest IPO ever, raising some US$9.7 billion in the H-share Global Offering. The Over-Allotment Option was then exercised on June 7, 2006, raising the total value of their IPO to US$11.2 billion. BOC also made a successful IPO in mainland China on July 5, 2006, offering up to 10 billion A-shares on the Shanghai A Stock Exchange for RMB20 billion (US$2.5 billion). BOC also bought Singapore Airlines's stake in Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise, renaming it BOC Aviation in 2007.
  2008: Bank of China buys a 20 percent stake in La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild 
caption: Bank of China in Shenyang
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