President Li Lihui of the BOC told a press conference held by the central bank that his bank is gearing up for a listing, but "speed should be subject to quality."

"We hope that all our financial indices can reach the standard of a listed company at the time of our initial public offering," he said. "The listing date hinges on our preparatory work and market conditions."

President Chang Zhenming of CCB said his bank is "actively" bracing for the listing by inviting well-known overseas agencies to help audit its business.

Both banks are negotiating with potential strategic investors --probably more sophisticated financial institutions -- who will buystakes in the Chinese banks and help them streamline their operations, the presidents said. They declined to reveal the investors' names, however, citing "commercial secret concerns."

The exchanges the banks would be listed on are also not known.

China chose the BOC and CCB as pilot banks for joint-stock reform and market listing at the end of last year, injecting 44.5 billion US dollars in foreign currency reserves into the banks to replenish their capital.

Reviewing the progress this year, a central bank spokesman saidChina's bank reform has achieved "sound effects" since major financial indices of the BOC and CCB, including the capital adequacy ratio, asset quality, earning capability and provisions for bad debts, have all reached or neared those of big international commercial banks.

The BOC and CCB have both become joint-stock banks with comparatively standard corporate governance featured by a shareholders' meeting, board of directors, board of supervisors and senior management, which have all started operation.

After pouring excessive loans into money-losing state-owned companies over the past decades, many banks became heavily debt-ladden, analysts acknowledge.

China's Big Four also includes the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China, which are preparing to go public in 2006 and 2007, respectively, according to industrysources.

The bellwethers have given encouraging figures.

Li said the BOC's non-performing loan (NPL) ratio plunged to 4.55 percent at the end of October, 11.73 percentage points less than earlier this year.

The capital adequacy ratio, a measure of available capital in proportion to outstanding loans, reached 8.56 percent, above the 8-percent international level.

The bank's operating profits soared 22 percent in the first tenmonths of the year to 53.55 billion yuan (6.5 billion dollars).

Chang said his bank's capital adequacy ratio stood at 9.39 percent, while its NPL ratio slumped to only 3.88 percent at the end of September, the lowest among the Big Four.