In July 2007, China Development Bank, a large state-owned policy lender, pledged $9.8bn in an attempt to join the biggest bank merger in history and put itself on a path to commercialisation and reform.
Ultimately, the Barclays bank-led bid for ABN Amro failed and CDB had to settle for a 3 per cent stake in Barclays instead, for which it paid $3bn. But CDB's involvement in the deal was a powerful signal that Beijing intended to transform it from a piggy bank for pet political projects into a more independent, market-driven lender.
“This strategic and financial collaboration is the next step in the evolution of CDB into a commercially operated financial institution,” Chen Yuan, CDB governor, said at the time. “CDB strongly believes that this long-term investment in Barclays will be financially attractive.”