BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The giant, debt-laden Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) on Tuesday announced it will go public as a whole, quashing rumors that it will sell its Beijing headquarters and become a group of provincial-level banks.

    Li Zhicheng, the ABC's research office chief, told Xinhua the bank was facing several reform options, but "offering shares in the entire bank is the most rational choice and the most pragmatic".

    Three other state banks -- the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Bank of China and China Construction Bank -- have either transformed into joint-stock firms or listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in order to strengthen corporate governance and efficiency.

    Li said the ABC was the only bank among the "Big Four" yet to announce reform plans, which had aroused concern at home and abroad.

    Some newspapers, with limited information sources and a lack of understanding of the bank's history and development, carried "untrue stories and even some subjective conclusions drawn by writers", he said.

    A Beijing-based economic daily has reported a break-up was the "preferred proposal" among several submitted to the State Council, China's cabinet by central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan. Li said, "Such extremely irresponsible reports have already exerted huge negative effects on the stability and business operations of our bank."

    The government must restructure its major banks prior to the full opening of the country's financial markets to foreign rivals -- under a commitment to the World Trade Organization in 2001 -- by the end of this year.

    Domestic banks have piled up a mountain of problem debts over the past decades due to reckless lending to state-owned enterprises, sapping their competitiveness, analysts say. The ABC is widely believed to be the worst hit on massive lending to the rural sector, with a non-performing loan ratio of 24.75 percent reported at the end of March.

    Li said transforming the entire bank into a shareholding company was in line with international trends and would help maintain its advantage of remote business outlets in the countryside.

    The ABC employs about 477,000 people, a drop of 169,000 since the end of 2000. It posted operating profits of 9.27 billion yuan (1.15 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter. Enditem