THE Bank of China will be the first among big state-owned banks to open its second headquarters in Shanghai late next month to support the city's goal to become a leading global financial center, bank sources said yesterday.

The Shanghai headquarters of the country's biggest foreign exchange bank will occupy three floors of the 52-floor BOC Tower in Lujiazui area, the so-called Wall Street of Shanghai, the sources said.

"We are scheduled to open the Shanghai headquarters on March 20, and everything should be ready by March 16," a source told Shanghai Daily.

The source said the second headquarters will act as a yuan trading transactions center for the bank and is seen in line with Shanghai's aim to be the global center for trading, pricing and clearing of the yuan by 2015 on its road to a world financial hub by 2020.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, revealed in a plan in January that Shanghai's financial markets aim to triple transactions to 1,000 trillion yuan (US$158.7 trillion) by 2015.

BOC's Shanghai headquarters will focus on non-credit services to differentiate itself from the Beijing headquarters, officials had said earlier.

The BOC Tower is now home to BOC's Shanghai branch.

Another bank source said: "We are now busy preparing to move office to make vacant space for the new headquarters."

A source at the Shanghai branch of the China Banking Regulatory Commission said the setting up of the new headquarters is going smoothly.

"Shanghai sees the new move from the big four banks as a key step for it to deepen its influence in the financial market," the source said.