Having completed its conversion into a shareholding company, Agricultural Bank of China is pushing ahead with its strategic reform by commencing private banking operations in its domestic market.

ABC’s initial plans are to establish five private banks in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Ningbo and Tianjin, along with a network of 15 wealth management centres. It also plans to extend the offering of 20 per cent of its urban branches to include wealth management services.

ABC converted into a shareholding company on January 16 this year, having previously been state-owned.

Since its inception in 1951, ABC has built up a network of 24,500 branches across China and now has close to 450,000 employees.

At the end of 2008, the bank’s total global assets stood at RMB6.9 trillion (around £1 trillion). ABC made a profit of RMB51.1 billion last year.