(12 March 2010 – China) The world’s largest phone company by subscribers has announced that it will invest US$5.8 billion (A$6.3 billion) into a Chinese bank in an effort to develop mobile phone banking and business services.China Mobile has agreed to pay US$5.8 billion for a 20 percent stake of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.
The mid-sized lender said, in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange, that the companies plan on working together to develop mobile phone services involving customer payments, bank cards, money transfers and other e-commerce businesses.