Bank of Communications (BOCOM), China's fifth largest lender by assets, announced on September 24 that it had established a representative office in Taiwan, the first such office set up by a bank from the Chinese mainland.

A BOCOM spokesperson said the move will help strengthen information exchanges between financial institutions and consumers across the Taiwan Straits, pushing forward economic and financial cooperation.

The announcement came one day after the applications of BOCOM and Bank of China to set up representative offices in Taiwan were approved by Taiwan's top financial regulator on September 23.

Taiwan's "Financial Supervisory Commission" said the two banks from the Chinese mainland would be first authorized for non-profit business activities such as "liaising with banks and consumers and collecting financial market information in Taiwan" for a year before being able to apply to set up branches.