BNP Paribas SA raised its stake in Bank of Nanjing by 2 percent, the Chinese lender said in a statement on Dec 8, amid reports that France's largest lender plans to boost its stake even further.

As a qualified foreign institutional investor, or QFII, BNP Paribas bought 59.38 million shares -- 2 percent of Bank of Nanjing's outstanding shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange -- between Oct 10 and Dec 6.

At the end of September, BNP Paribas held a 12.68 percent stake in the bank, making it the largest shareholder after Nanjing Zijin Investment Holdings Co Ltd, which had a 13.76 percent stake.

Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that BNP Paribas plans to increase its stake to as much as 20 percent.

As BNP Paribas's stake increase has not surpassed 5 percent of the Chinese lender's outstanding shares, the French lender is not obliged to reveal its plans to increase or decrease its stake in the near future, thus it is hard to tell if Nanjing Zijin Investment Holdings will remain the largest stakeholder in the near future, a source with Bank of Nanjing quoted by China Business News said.

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