HONG KONG, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Bank of China limited (BOC) said on Wednesday that it plans to issue no more than 10 billion A shares after its ongoing global offering of H shares, in an effort to collect no more than 20 billion yuan (about 2.5 billion U.S. dollars).

    BOC Chairman Xiao Gang said at a press conference on Wednesday that the issuance of A shares will be completed by July, 2007, adding the issuance of A shares will not harm the interests of the holders of H shares.

    According to the regulations of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, BOC can issue its A share six months after its global offering of H shares.

    Bank of China Limited is one of the four biggest state-owned commercial banks in China. BOC's last year's annual profit reached 31.5 billion yuan (about 3.94 billion U.S. dollars).

    BOC's Hong Kong public offering will commerce on Thursday and the trading of the bank's H share on Hong Kong stock market is expected to commence on June 1. Enditem