Early 20th century In 1905, the
Qing government established the
Da-Qing Bank in
Beijing. When the
Republic of China was established in 1912,
Chen Jintao was named head of financial reform in President
Sun Yat-sen's government and reorganized the Da-Qing Bank into the Bank of China, of which he has subsequently been viewed as the founder. In 1917,
Tsuyee Pei opened the branch of the Bank of China in Hong Kong. In 1928, the bank moved its head office from Beijing to
Shanghai. In 1920, the bank opened the Investigative Office of the Bank of China. The Investigative Office was the earliest research body in China's banking sector. 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. In 1931, another overseas branch opened in
Osaka, and in 1936 in
Singapore (to handle remittances to China of overseas Chinese) as well as an agency in
New York. In 1937, on the outbreak of hostilities with Japan, Japanese forces blockaded China's major ports. The Bank of China 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,
Batu Pahat,
Baichilu,
Mandalay,
Lashio,
Ipoh, and
Seremban. In 1941–1942, the Japanese conquest of Southeast Asia forced the BOC to close all its overseas 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. In late July 1942, it lost its
note-issuance privilege simultaneously as the
Bank of Communications and the
Farmers Bank of China, as the
Central Bank of China was granted the issuance monopoly in the territories still ruled by the Nationalist government. Following the end of
World War II, the Bank of China in 1946 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, Japan and opened a sub-branch in Tokyo. In 1947, the bank opened agencies in
Bangkok,
Chittagong, and Tokyo. In 1950, following the victory of Communist forces in the civil war, some of the BOC's overseas branches (e.g. Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Calcutta, Bombay, Chittagong, and Karachi) of Bank of China remained with the mainland bank headquartered in Beijing, while others (e.g. New York, Tokyo, Havana, Bangkok, and one other, possibly Panama) remained with the Bank of China headquartered in
Taipei, which in 1971 took the new name
International Commercial Bank of China (). The Rangoon branch was nationalized in 1963 together with all other foreign and domestic banks in Burma. In 1971, China transferred the two branches in Karachi and Chittagong to the
National Bank of Pakistan. In 1975, the Republic of South Vietnam nationalized the branch in Saigon and the
Khmer Rouge government nationalized that in
Phnom Penh. File:北京大清户部银行旧址 2021-09-03.jpg|Entrance to the in Beijing, Bank of China head office from 1912 to 1928 File:First Headquarters of Bank of China, Dec 2017.jpg|Former Da-Qing Bank branch in Shanghai, Bank of China head office from 1928 to 1946 File:Bank of China Building, The Bund, Dec 2017.jpg|
Bank of China Building, Shanghai, completed in 1937, used by the
Central Reserve Bank of China from 1941 to 1945, then Bank of China head office from 1946 to 1949 File:Former Bank of China in Qingdao 2007-04.JPG|Former branch in
Qingdao File:南京中国银行旧址（下关）2016.jpg|Former Bank of China building in
Nanjing File:原大清银行.jpg|Former Bank of China building in
Wuhan File:HK OldBankOfChinaBuilding Queensway2.JPG|
Former Bank of China building in
Hong Kong, seat of the BOC Hong Kong branch from 1951 to 1991
Since 1979 ,
Beijing, head office of the re-established Bank of China from 1979 to 2001 The
People's Bank of China began spinning off its commercial functions starting in 1978, and re-established the Bank of China in 1979 with focus on international finance. That same year, the new BOC opened a branch in
Luxembourg, which gradually became its European headquarters through the 1990s. In 1981 it opened a branch in New York, followed by
Paris in 1985. In 1987, the BOC became an ordinary member of the
LBMA. In 1992, it opened a
representative office in
Toronto, upgraded the next year as a
Schedule II bank. During
Reform and Opening Up, the Bank of China established its Institute of International Finance. In 2009, People's Park Remittance Centre opened in Singapore, while Sunday Banking Business ceased in Chinatown Sub-branch in Singapore. In 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. On , the BOC's listing on the
Hong Kong Stock Exchange 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 7 June 2006, raising the total value of their IPO to US$11.2 billion. BOC also made a successful IPO in mainland China on 5 July 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' stake in
Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise, renaming it
BOC Aviation in 2007. Mainland China accounted for 60% of the bank by profits and 76% by assets as at December 2005. In 2008, BOC acquired a 20 percent stake in the
Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild (LCFR) for 236.3 million euros (US$340 million). In 2009, the bank opened branches in
São Paulo and
Maputo, as well as
Penang in October. As of 2009, the BoC was the second largest lender in China overall, and the fifth largest bank in the world by market capitalization value. It was the first major Chinese bank to offer such a product. A list published in 2011 by
Forbes ranked the BoC as the 4th-largest company in the world. In 2012, the BOC opened a branch in
Taiwan. The opening was seen as a symbol of deepening economic ties across Taiwan Strait. Bank of China (M) Bhd opened its 6th branch in Malaysia at Tower 2, PFCC, Bandar Puteri Puchong in 2012. BOC also opened a branch in Stockholm in 2012, and in Lisbon in 2013. During the
2013 Korean crisis, the Bank of China halted business with a North Korean bank accused by the United States of financing Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs. New branch opened in Montreal. The
Canadian arm of the Bank of China now has 10 branches across Canada, including five in the
Greater Toronto Area and three in Vancouver. In 2015, the BOC gained entry to the
London Bullion Market Association gold price auction. At the time, it was one of eight members to the auction. That same year, the BOC opened two global commodity centres in Singapore, becoming the first Chinese bank to do so outside China. Between 2015 and 2020, the BOC lent over US$185.1 billion for
Belt and Road Initiative projects. In 2016, the BOC received permission to open a branch in Brunei, and opened a branch in Mauritius becoming the first Chinese-funded bank in Mauritius. In 2017, it received permission to operate a deposit bank in
Turkey, and in October 2017, opened its first branch in Pakistan in Karachi. The BoC is the most global-active of China's banks, with branches on every inhabited continent. As of 2017, BOC operated outside of
mainland China in 27 countries and areas including Australia,
Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy,
Luxembourg, Russia, Hungary, United States,
Panama, Brazil, Japan,
Republic of Korea,
Singapore,
Taiwan,
Philippines,
Vietnam,
Malaysia,
Thailand,
Indonesia,
Kazakhstan,
Bahrain,
Zambia,
South Africa, and a branch office in the
Cayman Islands. Even so, its operations outside China accounted for less than 4% of the activity of the bank by both profits and assets. In 2019, the Bank set up its current think-tank body, the Bank of China Research Institute. In August 2023,
Reuters reported BoC launched a countrywide exercise to reduce the salary gaps among its employees and mid- and high-level managers in line of the
common prosperity agenda promoted by Chinese leader
Xi Jinping. The story said the BoC launched a "salary management system reform plan" after an inspection team by the
Central Commission for Discipline Inspection found out that the bank's salary system had issues regarding "wealth inequality" after investigations. Under the plan, employees below the mid-level manager level would have their salary raised by about 10% to 15%, while the salaries of higher-level managers would be reduced at a similar range. As of January 2024, the BoC planned to sell a new category of total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) bonds worth 150 billion
yuan ($21 billion). This would make it the first state-owned bank in the country to fill the funding gap by 2025. In June 2024, the BoC complied with global financial sanctions against the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, and would no longer trade with sanctioned Russian banks. At the time, trade between Russia and China accounted for more than a third of all Russian exports. File:BOC International (China) Limited 342.JPG|Bank of China in
Shenyang File:Dairen specie.bank.jpg|Bank of China in
Dalian, former building of the
Yokohama Specie Bank File:20150301-天津横滨正金银行大楼.jpg|Bank of China in
Tianjin, formerly Yokohama Specie Bank File:20180908 Bank of China Building.jpg|Bank of China in
Zhengzhou File:20210902 Bank of China Kaifeng Branch.jpg|Bank of China in
Kaifeng File:20221208 Bank of China Shangqiu Branch.jpg|Bank of China in
Shangqiu File:Bank of China Tower, Wuxi.jpg|Bank of China in
Wuxi File:南京新街口2018 02.jpg|Bank of China in
Nanjing (right), former building of
National Commercial Bank File:Bank of China Tower II.jpg|Bank of China Tower in
Pudong,
Shanghai File:Bank of China Centre (deep blue sky).jpg|Bank of China Centre,
Hong Kong File:Bank of China Building, Macau.jpg|Bank of China tower in
Macau File:BankofChina Singapore.jpg|Old Building of the Bank of China building in
Singapore File:Maybank Tower, Bank Of China and 6 Battery Road.JPG|Bank of China Tower in Singapore, adjacent to the Old Building File:Bank of China - panoramio (1).jpg|Bank of China Tower in
Kuala Lumpur File:Bank of China Tokyo.jpg|Branch in
Tokyo File:Bank of China Luxembourg.jpg|Bank of China in
Luxembourg File:Röszler–Muráti-ház, 2019 Lipótváros.jpg|Bank of China in
Budapest File:Bank of China, Lothbury, London EC2R 7DB.jpg|Bank of China building on
Lothbury,
London File:Bank of China New York by David Shankbone.jpg|410 Madison Ave,
New York City File:Bank of China (Canada) Branch.jpg|A branch in
Chinatown, Toronto ==Major subsidiaries==