The Chinese government will boost its stakes in the country’s largest banks as it attempts to shore up financial stocks and restore investor confidence.
Central Huijin, the domestic arm of China’s sovereign wealth fund, will buy shares in Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Xinhua said that Huijin’s purchases – its first such public intervention since a similar move at the onset of the financial crisis three years ago – would “support the healthy operations and development of key state-owned financial institutions and stabilise the share prices of state-owned commercial banks”.