Bank of China yesterday said it planned to continue its strategic partnership with Royal Bank of Scotland - in the wake of the UK government's bail-out of the troubled lender and market chatter that Edinburgh-based bank may have to offload its stake.

"We will maintain strategic partner relations with RBS and jointly push forward the development of this strategic partnership," the Bank of China said in a statement yesterday.

Royal Bank withstood opposition from its own investors when it first emerged that it was planning to invest in Bank of China in 2006.

Co-operation between the banks includes issuance of credit cards and a private banking service for wealthy clients.

Although Royal Bank is under less pressure to carry out an asset fire sale, thanks to the massive capital injection from the government this week, analysts and bankers have said a number of assets are likely to go on the block, and its stake in the Bank of China may be among them.

Stephen Hester, who on Monday replaced Sir Fred Goodwin at the helm of the 281-year-old Scottish bank, signalled that the Royal would shrink its balance sheet and that its operations in the UK would be at the core of the bank's future - suggesting a significant unwinding of the expansion that has characterised Goodwin's eight years as chief executive.

Royal Bank, which could end up being almost 60% owned by the government after the rescue deal, originally paid around £1.6bn of its own cash for a holding in Bank of China of just more than 5% - but it has since reduced that stake to 4.26%.

Nonetheless, flush with deposits and tightly regu- lated, China's banks have proved largely resilient amid the global financial meltdown.

Last month, Bank of China, which is the world's fifth-largest bank, announced it was acquiring a 20% stake in La Compagnie Financiere Edmond de Rothschild, the family-held asset management and private banking business.

Separately, Royal Bank-owned Queen's banker RBS Coutts yesterday said it expects growing wealth in India will help its recently acquired unit there to boost revenues and assets by between 30% and 50% annually over the next five years.

However, Raj Sriram, global head of Royal's South Asian private banking arm, said the firm would not go on a hiring spree immediately to expand in a market that has attracted the likes of Morgan Stanley.

"There is a huge pie out there and it's a growing pie and I think there will be a place for every good player and every appropriate player to be there in the market place and make a niche," Sriram said.

The number of millionaires in India rose by 22.7% to 123,000 in 2007, the fastest expansion in the world, as a robust economy and booming stock market boosted incomes.