Aug. 28 – Bank of Beijing is set to become the country’s first city commercial bank to expand into the fund management business in a joint venture with Canada’s Bank of Nova Scotia.

The bank is China’s largest city bank in terms of assets and will a registered capital of RMB300 million (US$44 million). On the other hand, the Bank of Nova Scotia is Canada’s third largest lender by assets.

The Canadian bank will have a 33 percent stake in the venture while Bank of Beijing and an unnamed third party will make up the rest. It is not Bank of Nova Scotia’s first time to enter the China market. In 2004, it bought a five percent stake in the Xi’an City Commercial Bank along with International Finance Corporation.

In 2007, Bank of Beijing’s first-half net profit was RMB2.9 billion, up by 121.48 percent while earnings per share increased by 80.77 per cent to 0.47 yuan.