China is the top destination for mergers and acquisitions in Asia, with the total value of financial services sector deals surging to $15bn last year from $2.4bn in 2004, according to a report by PwC and the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The study documented 35 M&A transactions in China in 2005, the most valuable of which were huge foreign investments in three of the country’s “big four” state banks – Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.