China Construction Bank (CCB) and Shenzhen Development Bank have reached an accord in an effort to conduct an all-round cooperation, a CCB spokesman said in Beijing Tuesday.

Their business exchanges and cooperation will cover corporate finance, individual finance, foreign exchange business and fund management among others.

The move is expected to sharpen the competitive edge of both banks and help streamline their services at a time when China is opening the financial sector still wider to foreign banks under a commitment to the World Trade Organization, industry watchers say.

Shenzhen Development Bank, inaugurated in 1987, was the first Chinese bank listed in the stock market, while the much-bigger CCB boasts hefty capital and sprawling business network around the country. "The two joint-stock banks can give full scope to their own advantages and benefit each other through cooperation," the CCB spokesman said.

CCB, which has already split into a holding company and a joint-stock company -- with the latter including all its core operations-- was scheduled to issue shares sometime this year.

With a non-performing loan ratio of 3.74 percent at the end of last September, the lowest among China's Big Four banks, the bank reported its operating profits rise of 21.5 percent year-on-year to 49.94 billion yuan (about US$6 billion) in the first nine months of 2004.

(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2005)