Within days of selling $25bn of preferred shares to the US government, Bank of America on Monday announced it intended to make the biggest inbound investment in China to date by paying more than $7bn to increase its stake in China Construction Bank.

BofA plans to exercise a call option by the end of this month to raise its share in China's second-largest lender by assets from its current holding of 10.75 per cent to 19.13 per cent. But analysts say it is likely gradually to sell down at least part of the stake it acquired earlier, making a handsome profit in the process.