AGRICULTURAL Bank of China, one of the four largest state-owned commercial banks, plans to offer shares to the public within three years, according to Xiang Junbo, its governor.

Xiang said at a work conference that he planned to develop the lender into "a bank in which the public can own shares" by 2010. Meanwhile, the bank should also be built into "a globally famous bank" by 2012, and into a China-focused modern bank with global operations by 2017, he said. The Beijing-based bank, with outlets covering urban and rural areas, made profit of 40.5 billion yuan (US$5.6 billion) in 2007.