Malaysia's CIMB to buy China bank stake -sources

SHANGHAI/BEIJING, March 12 (Reuters) - CIMB, Malaysia's second-largest financial services group, will buy a stake in Yingkou Commercial Bank, a small lender in northern China, as it moves to expand outside its home market, two sources close to the situation said on Wednesday.

CIMB, which owns listed bank Bumiputra-Commerce Holdings BUCM.KL, is expected to make a joint announcement with Yingkou Commercial Bank on the deal as early as next week, the sources said.

"(The stake) will be at least 10 percent, although CIMB will have an option to increase it in the future," one of the sources said.

Yingkou Bank, which will soon be officially renamed Bank of Yingkou, aims to become a regional lender in northern China and expand its focus beyond the city of Yingkou, where it is based. Under Chinese banking rules, a single foreign investor is allowed to buy no more than 20 percent of a Chinese bank, while foreign investors can hold combined ownership of up to 25 percent of a domestic lender.

Officials at Yingkou Bank declined to comment while a representative for CIMB could not immediately be reached for comment. (Reporting by George Chen and Emmie Wang; Editing by Edmund Klamann)