Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, the Asia-Pacific banking group that is the owner of Bank of Singapore, is possibly bidding for Wing Hang Bank,Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources.

OCBC has been studying an offer for the Hong Kong-based bank for more than two weeks, the news service quoted one of its sources as saying; it noted that shares in wing Hang rose by 2.5 per cent on Thursday.

Wing Hang said earlier in September that one of its largest shareholders had been approached about a sale. Two of Hong Kong’s four remaining family-owned banks, are in talks with potential acquirers seeking to profit from China’s efforts to increase global use of the yuan, the report said. Chong Hing Bank shares were suspended from trading this week the news service reported Yue Xiu Group was nearing an agreement to buy the lender.

Wing Hang said earlier in October that its shareholders remain in talks with unidentified third parties and it hasn’t agreed on definitive terms.

Chairman Patrick Fung’s family, its affiliates and Bank of New York Mellon together hold about 45 per cent of the shares.

A spokesperson for OCBC declined to comment, the report said.