China's first private lender, Minsheng Bank, has won regulatory approval to sell a 4.55 percent stake to a Singapore government firm, clearing the final hurdle for the investment in a fast-opening financial arena.

Beijing is trying to overhaul a banking sector laden with more than $200 billion in bad debt, before opening it to near-full foreign competition in 2007.

Temasek's acquisition follows a string of investments by global players.

Asia-focused Standard Chartered announced last week it would buy nearly 20 percent of China's Bohai Bank.

Rivals HSBC and Citigroup are among a handful of others that have secured slices of domestic lenders in pursuit of 1.3 trillion US dollars in nationwide savings.

(CRI.com November 22, 2004)