China to hold slightly over 30 percent of new development bank

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will hold a 30.34 percent stake in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Finance Ministry said on Monday, making Beijing the largest shareholder in a multilateral institution that will project the country's growing soft power.

China will have 26.06 percent of the voting rights in the bank, a Chinese-led development bank that will rival institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Countries defined as "within the region" will hold a 75 percent stake in the bank, the ministry said in a statement on its website, as delegates from 57 countries gathered in Beijing to witness the signing of the articles of agreement for the bank.

Fifty countries signed the agreement, the ministry said, as the remaining seven - Denmark, Kuwait, Malaysia, Philippines, Holland and South Africa and Thailand - had not yet won domestic approval.

India will have the second-largest share in the bank, followed by Russia, Germany and South Korea based on their capital subscriptions, according to the statement.

The AIIB's authorized capital stock would be $100 billion, which would be divided into shares that have a value of $100,000.

The ministry added that the initial stakes and voting rights of China and other founding members would be gradually diluted as other members joined.

After getting approval from the majority of the board, the AIIB can increase its legal share capital and lower the share of countries within the region, but not lower than 70 percent, it said.

(Reporting by China economics team; Additional reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)