Bank of China, which had the biggest exposure to the US subprime crisis among Asian banks, said it was in favour of expanding China’s nascent market for asset-backed securities in spite of suffering losses from such holding.

“There is a market demand for it,” Wang Yongli, executive vice-president, said Tuesday. “There needs to be better transparency, regulation and the right supporting market infrastructure, but there is room to further develop securitisation [in China].”