Founded in 2006 with registered capital of Rmb5 trillion ($730 billion) and headquartered in Tianjin, Bohai Bank was the first national joint stock bank to be set up in China since 1996. As the city of Tianjin and surrounding Binhai New Area are a model for the Chinese government to test financial reforms, so Bohai represents an opportunity to see what a built-from-scratch, home-grown bank can do to support the country’s growth. Management say their aim is to support the region’s growth by providing a full range of banking services to its companies; the bank also formed a strategic alliance with a separate investment banking arm and is looking to increase revenues from fee-based products. The bank’s largest stakeholder is a local government investment entity, with Standard Chartered holding a 19.9%
