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Bank of China Limited is one of China's largest state-owned commercial banks. Headquartered in Beijing, we provide a comprehensive range of financial services to personal and corporate customers worldwide. The Bank is involved in commercial banking,including corporate banking, personal banking and the global market business. We are also engaged in investment banking through BOC International Holdings Limited, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bank. Our insurance business is run through Bank of China Group Insurance Co. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bank and its affiliated companies. Our fund management business is undertaken through our shareholding in Bank of China Investment Management Co., Ltd., and our direct investment and investment management business through BOCG Investment Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary. In 2006, we acquired Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise, a leader in this field in Asia, and renamed it BOC Aviation. BOC thus became the first Chinese bank to be involved in the global aircraft leasing sector.
Bank of China established a branch in Hong Kong in 1917 and our first overseas branch in London in 1929, making us a pioneer in the "going out" of the country's financial industry. The Bank now boasts an institutional network covering 28 countries and regions worldwide. We have also been a note-issuing bank in Hong Kong and Macau since 1994 and 1995 espectively.
The Bank has been part of an in-depth process of transformation and opening up for the past 30 years. In April 1979, the State Council appointed the Bank as the specialized foreign exchange bank, responsible for operating and collectively managing the government's foreign exchange business. In 1994, BOC was converted from a specialized foreign exchange and trade bank into a state-owned commercial bank. In 2003, the Bank became one of the pilot banks in the joint stock restructuring of all wholly stateowned commercial banks in China, and Bank of China Limited was officially incorporated in August 2004. The Bank successfully listed on the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and the Shanghai Stock Exchange in June and July 2006 respectively. This made us the first commercial bank in China to complete listings in both the Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong.
The Bank has achieved many firsts in the domestic banking industry.
We were the first to establish an overseas branch, the first to issue
a credit card, the first to offer telephone banking service, the
first to run an international factoring business, the first to issue
bonds on the international market, the first to run a forward settlement
and foreign exchange business, the first to arrange a syndicated
loan, the first to run a private banking business in the Chinese
Mainland, and the first to establish an aviation leasing
company. In US magazine Business Week, the Bank was ranked
second among local brands in China in terms of brand value
(USD10.29 billion) in 2006.
Bank of China has received wide recognition from its peers, domestic and overseas customers and the media for its credit and operational achievements. The Bank has been named "Best Bank in China" and "Best Domestic Bank in China" by Euromoney eight times and included in the Fortune Global 500 for 18 consecutive years. In addition, it has been awarded "Best Domestic Bank in China" by The Asset several times, "Best Trade Finance Bank in China" and "Best Foreign Exchange Bank in China" by Global Finance, the "Top 10 Product Service Enterprises in China" by Far Eastern Economic Review, and one of 25 "most appreciated Chinese companies" by Fortune and Hay, a leading international management and consultation company. Since its listings on both the A and H share capital markets, the Bank has been the winner of many significant awards, including "Best IPO Investor Relation Award".
