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中國銀行股份有限公司 LIMITED (a joint stock company incorporated in the People’s Republic of China with limited liability) (Stock Code: 3988)

ANNOUNCEMENT

Appointment of Independent Non-executive Director

The board of directors of Bank of China Limited hereby announces that with the approval of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, Mr. Arnout Henricus Elisabeth Maria Wellink has been appointed as independent non-executive director of the Bank with effect from 25 October 2012.

The 2011 Annual General Meeting of Bank of China Limited (the “Bank”) held on 30 May 2012 resolved to appoint Mr. Arnout Henricus Elisabeth Maria Wellink (Mr. Nout Wellink) as independent non-executive director of the Bank. China Banking Regulatory Commission has approved the appointment of Mr. Nout Wellink.

The board of directors of the Bank (the “Board”) hereby announces that Mr. Nout Wellink has been appointed as independent non-executive director of the Bank with effect from 25 October 2012.

The biographical details of Mr. Nout Wellink are as follows:

Mr. Nout Wellink, aged 69, has served as a member of the Executive Board of the Dutch (“DNB”) for almost 30 years, the last 14 years as its President. He retired from DNB on July 1, 2011. DNB is since 1999 an integral part of the European System of Central Banks, but at the same time the national prudential supervisor of banks, pension funds and insurance companies. Since the establishment of the European Monetary Union, Mr. Nout Wellink served as a member of the Governing Council of the . Starting from 1997, Mr. Nout Wellink served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements, which he chaired from 2002 to 2006. From 2006 to 2011, he also chaired the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. From 1997 to 2011, Mr. Nout Wellink was a member of the Group of Ten Central Bank Governors and a Governor of the International Monetary Fund. Prior to his appointment in 1982 as an executive director of DNB, Mr. Nout Wellink held several posts in the Dutch Ministry of Finance, including as the Treasurer General from 1977 to 1982. 1 After studying Dutch law at Leyden University from 1961 to 1968 with a Master’s degree obtained, Mr. Nout Wellink obtained a doctor’s degree in economics at the Rotterdam Erasmus University in 1975. In 2008 he received an honorary doctorate from . From 1988 to 1998, Mr. Nout Wellink was an Extraordinary Professor at the Free University in Amsterdam.

Mr. Nout Wellink is currently the chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Leyden University, and had many secondary functions in the past, including member of the Supervisory Board of a bank and other enterprises on behalf of the Dutch authorities, chairman of the Board of Supervisors of the Netherlands Open Air Museum, member and treasurer of the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis and the Westeinde Hospital in The Hague. He was awarded a Knighthood in the Order of the Netherlands Lion in 1980 and is since 2011 Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau.

Mr. Nout Wellink’s appointment as independent non-executive director of the Bank is for a term of three years until the date of the Bank’s annual general meeting in 2015. With the approval of the Board and upon commencement of his term of offi ce as independent non-executive director of the Bank, Mr. Nout Wellink will also serve as a member of the Strategic Development Committee, the Audit Committee and the Risk Policy Committee of the Bank.

The pre-tax remuneration of non-executive directors of the Bank as approved by the shareholders’ meeting of the Bank are set out as follows: basic remuneration of RMB200,000 per year, an additional duty allowance of RMB200,000 per year will be paid to the chairman of the Risk Policy Committee or the chairman of the Audit Committee; and an additional duty allowance of RMB100,000 per year will be paid to the chairman of other special committees. Additional duty allowance of RMB50,000 per year will be paid to the persons being members of special committees. The remuneration of a non- executive director who holds positions concurrently in several committees will be calculated in an accumulative manner.

As of the date of this announcement, Mr. Nout Wellink has not received any remuneration from the Bank.

As far as the directors of the Bank are aware and save as disclosed above, Mr. Nout Wellink did not hold any directorship in other public companies the securities of which are listed on any securities market in Hong Kong or overseas in the last three years. Mr. Nout Wellink does not have any relationship with any director, senior management or substantial or controlling shareholder of the Bank, nor does he hold any position in the Bank or any of its subsidiaries. As of the date of this announcement, Mr. Nout Wellink does not have any interest in the shares of the Bank or its associated companies within the meaning of Part XV of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Ordinance.

2 Save as disclosed above, there is no other information in relation to the appointment of Mr. Nout Wellink that needs to be disclosed pursuant to any of the requirements set out in Rule 13.51(2)(h) to (v) of the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, nor are there any other matters that need to be brought to the attention of the shareholders of the Bank. Mr. Nout Wellink has not been penalized by the China Securities Regulatory Commission or other relevant departments or stock exchanges.

The Board would like to take this opportunity to welcome Mr. Nout Wellink to join the Board.

By Order of the Board Bank of China Limited YEUNG Cheung Ying Company Secretary

Beijing, PRC 30 October 2012

As at the date of this announcement, the directors of the Bank are: XIAO Gang, LI Lihui, LI Zaohang, WANG Yongli, CAI Haoyi*, SUN Zhijun*, LIU Lina*, JIANG Yansong*, ZHANG Xiangdong*, ZHANG Qi*, Anthony Francis NEOH#, HUANG Shizhong#, HUANG Danhan#, CHOW Man Yiu, Paul#, Jackson P. TAI# and Nout WELLINK#.

* Non-executive directors # Independent non-executive directors

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