China has six state-owned commercial banks. These banks are ranked by their Tier 1 capital amount[clarification needed] as of 2018.[citation needed] Banks with asterisks (*) are the four major state-owned banks (i.e. the "Big Four" banks).
Bank of Communications was founded in 1908. On 1 April 1987, it was restructured and re-commenced operations as the first state-owned bank in China.[citation needed]
Rural commercial banks were converted from rural credit cooperatives and play an important role in rural financial needs. Some rural commercial banks include Beijing Rural Commercial Bank, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank, and Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank.[citation needed]
The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) announced its approval for nine foreign-funded banks to start their preparatory work for setting up local corporations in China on 24 December 2006.[11][12][13][14][15] Following this, additional banks have been able to incorporate locally.[citation needed]
The following is a non-exhaustive list. Asterisks (*) indicate that the bank does not service individuals.[citation needed]
^Ownership is through a Variable Interest Entity (V.I.E.) structure, which was created in 2000, to circumvent Chinese restrictions on investment in certain industries. Buyers were actually purchasing shares in a Cayman Islandsshell corporation, not in the Alibaba group, as China forbids foreign ownership of its companies. Direct investment in MYbank or Ant Financial is not possible as of June 2017. A future IPO offering for Ant Financial Services Group, which owns the subsidiary MYbank, is expected in both the domestic Chinese stock exchange and overseas exchanges.[4][5][6]
