Jan. 22, 2007 (China Knowledge) – The Chinese government should be starting to announce reforms for the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) <ABCZ> after a two-day government meeting starting in Beijing on Friday.

The meeting, called the Financial Work Meeting, is held once every five years. Discussions will focus on drawing up a reform plan for ABC, the last of the Big Four banks to be listed. Market watchers say that ABC will likely be reformed through the writing off of its bad debts, foreign investment and IPO.

So far, the reform plan details such as bailout amount and ownership structure have yet to be announced.

A bailout of Beijing-based ABC may cost more than US$200 billion. It is believed that the government wants to attract investors to the weakest of China's four biggest banks while preserving services for farmers served by its 31,000 branches.

The bank has scheduled its annual meeting for its 2007 development plan in early February, and will probably discuss more details of its restructuring plan.

The other three State-owned banks - Bank of China <3988> <601988>, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China <349> <6013988> and China Construction Bank <939> - have received a combined US$60 billion of government bailout and are listed in Shanghai or Hong Kong.