Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS, the Asian Development Bank and Temasek Holdings, a government-owned Singaporean investment firm, are each reportedly negotiating with Bank of China to take a stake in the Chinese mainland's leading foreign exchange bank.

According to The Wall Street Journal, RBS and UBS are looking to set up joint venture businesses with Bank of China in return for their investments: UBS in wealth management and corporate finance and RBS in retail banking and mortgage lending.