BANK of China Ltd plans to invest 10 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion) to beef up services and internal controls, the company said.

This investment will be made "in the near term," said Vice President Zhu Min in Hainan Province, where he was attending the Boao Forum.

Bank of China and partner Temasek Holdings Pte have begun making loans to small and medium-sized enterprises at trial locations in the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian, Zhu said. The trials are expected to be completed in September, he said. Zhu didn't provide details about the size of the project.