Chinese banks deny plans to buy Stan Chart stake

Senior officials of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) have denied a report that three major Chinese banks would acquire a 17 per cent stake in the Standard Chartered bank, the Chinese media reported.

An ICBC official said the bank had "never made such contact with Temasek", which holds more than 17 per cent of the shares of Standard Chartered.

Spokesmen for CCB and BOC also said they had no knowledge of any such planned acquisition, official Xinhua news agency said, quoting China News Service. Chinese banks had made six overseas acquisitions by the end of October, for a total amount of $10.7 billion.

The deals include China Development Bank's injection of $3 billion into Barclays and ICBC's acquisition of a 20 per cent stake in South Africa-based Standard Bank.

The British newspaper, Financial Times, had reported that ICBC, the Bank of China (BOC) and the China Construction Bank (CCB) planned to buy Standard Chartered shares held by Temasek Holdings.