Reuters - Tuesday, February
26
China's banking regulator gave banks approval a year ago to
establish leasing companies, seven years after it stopped issuing
licences in order to clean up the industry. (Reporting by Eadie
Chen; Editing by Alan Wheatley and Edmund Klamann) - BEIJING, Feb
25 - BOC Aviation, the aircraft leasing arm of the Bank of China ,
said on Monday that it will lease eight Airbus A320 aircraft to
Qantas Airways Ltd , Australia's biggest airline.
The agreement is the second deal between Qantas and BOC, which
leased three A320s to Qantas in 2004, the Chinese bank said on its
Web site, www.boc.cn.
BOC Aviation will deliver the planes between the third quarter
of 2010 and the first quarter of 2011 to Jetstar, Qantas's low-cost
Singapore-based subsidiary.
Singapore-based BOC Aviation, which Bank of China acquired in
2006, said it now had 70 planes leased to airlines worldwide.
It has another 64 aircraft on order for delivery by 2013.
Chinese banks are also actively expanding in domestic leasing to
diversify their income streams.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China set up a leasing company
in September, while Caijing magazine reported last week that China
Development Bank was awaiting approval to inject 8 billion yuan
into a Shenzhen leasing firm.
China's banking regulator gave banks approval a year ago to
establish leasing companies, seven years after it stopped issuing
licences in order to clean up the industry.