Citic Bank, China's sixth-biggest lender by market value, said on Monday it plans to form an auto financing venture with its foreign shareholder BBVA of Spain.
Citic Bank, 15 percent owned by BBVA, will control 65 percent of the planned venture, with the remaining shares to be held by a BBVA unit, the Beijing-based lender said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The venture, which will have a registered capital of 1 billion yuan ($146 million), still needs regulatory approval, the statement said.
Chinese banks are rushing to set up auto financing units in the world's largest auto market, hoping to benefit from a sales boom fueled by rising incomes and government incentives.
China Construction Bank, the country's second-largest lender, plans to form a $100 million auto financing venture with Banco Santander, a source familiar with the plan told Reuters in January.
Foreign car makers including General Motors GM.UL and Volkswagen AG have also set up auto financing firms in China.
