China wealth fund says investing in domestic banks

BEIJING Jan 16 (Reuters) - China's sovereign wealth fund has been buying shares in the country's three largest commercial banks, the fund's chairman Lou Jiwei told reporters on Friday.

China said in September that Central Huijin, a domestic investment arm of the country's wealth fund, would buy shares in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SS) (1398.HK), Bank of China (3988.HK) (601988.SS) and China Construction Bank Corp (0939.HK) (601939.SS).

Lou said on Friday that it had been continuously buying shares in the three banks. Reuters reported in September that Central Huijin had bought 2 million Shanghai-listed shares in each of them.

About two-thirds of China Investment Corp (CIC), the country's $200 billion sovereign wealth fund, consists of money under the umbrella of Central Huijin, a vehicle long used to recapitalise state-owned banks and other financial institutions.

CIC was closely watching the selling of the Chinese banks' Hong Kong-listed shares by foreign investors, Lou added.

Over the past three weeks, Bank of America (BAC.N), UBS (UBSN.VX) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) have all sold or reduced their stakes in Chinese partner banks.

Lou also said that CIC would continue to invest abroad, but he declined to name any specific assets or targets.

Lou was attending the official launch of Agricultural Bank of China as a joint stock company.

(Reporting by Zhou Xin, Editing by Jacqueline Wong)