China Mobile Buys 20% Stake in Shanghai Pudong Bank
03/11/2010 Source: Agencies
China’s phone giant, China Mobile, said Wednesday it will pay US$5.8 billion for a 20 percent stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank as part of its bid to enter the wireless banking market.
Hong Kong-listed China Mobile, the largest phone operator by value, said it will work with the Shanghai bank on products that would let customers pay bills or transfer money via mobile phones.
“Mobile handsets have transformed from a simple tool for communications to a valuable device for communications, entertainment and online shopping,” China Mobile said in a statement.
“Mobile e-Commerce will become one of the major means that people make their spending in the coming time,” it says.
China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou told a news conference in Hong Kong on Wednesday that the deal is an “extension of our core telecom business. We see big growth potential in the profitability of the mobile financial business,” said an AFP report Wednesday.
Telecom operators in Japan and South Korea have already struck agreements with banks to offer payment services via cell-phones as a way to generate additional revenue.
Wednesday’s deal would see Shanghai Pudong issue 2.2 billion new shares.
