TEMASEK's wholly-owned subsidiary Fullerton Financial Holdings (FFH) and Bank of China (BOC) on Tuesday jointly established the Bank of China-Fullerton Community Bank Co (BOC-Fullerton) in Xiong'An New District in China's Hebei province.

BOC-Fullerton is among the first batch of investment and management community banks in China to be set up, FFH said in a statement.

FFH and BOC run BOC Fullerton Community Bank (BOCF), said to be China's largest community bank network, comprising 127 community banks, with 173 sub-branches and 278 rural financing service outlets as at June 2020.

FFH and BOC will inject their existing equity interest in the community banks into BOC-Fullerton, FFH said.

FFH has jointly invested in the building of community banks in China with BOC, with the first community bank launched in 2011. The partnership leverages BOC's branding and capital resources, and FFH's proven small and medium enterprise and micro-financing business models.

FFH president Yeo Hong Ping noted that the company was "very pleased" with the performance of BOCF, which has an estimated 8 per cent market share of China's community bank branch network.

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"We are proud to be part of this very meaningful and economically impactful venture in China in support of the underserved customer segments and the alleviation of poverty," he added.

FFH said BOCF is committed to support the causes of China's "three rural" policy and small microenterprises.

BOCF will continue to enhance the digital delivery of products and services through the adoption of artificial intelligence, Big Data and other advanced technologies to accelerate of the economic development of counties and villages it added.