A national savings bank could be launched this year to take over from the deposit-taking division of China Post, the Standard of Hong reported, citing comments made by China Banking Regulatory Commission Chairman Liu Mingkang. The bank would focus on small scale services for local people, offering small loans in addition to the standard deposit services. China Post has around 30,000 outlets across the country and took US$162 billion in deposits last year, making it the country’s fifth-largest deposit-taking institution.