Shanghai is planning to create a third city commercial bank by merging more than 230 rural credit cooperatives according to government officials. The third bank, tentatively called Shanghai Cooperation Bank, will focus on Shanghai's rural households and enterprises, whose total deposits reached 25.3bn yuan (US$3.06bn) as at the end of 2002.
Jin Ling, an official of Shanghai Rural Credit Cooperatives Union, said it has submitted its application to the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the State Council late last year. The Shanghai agency is the project proponent.
Pan Xuebei, a PBOC official in Shanghai, confirmed the application. However, she declined to say when it will be approved by the PBOC's main office in Beijing.
