Covington & Burling's London office has won the Bank of China (BOC) as a new client after securing a mandate to advise on the transfer of some of its non-wholesale banking businesses to a new UK subsidiary.

The US firm advised on the transfer of BOC's UK retail banking business and part of its UK corporate banking business, based in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow, to a newly-created subsidiary called Bank of China (UK).

It is the first time Covington has advised BOC in the UK. The firm has previously completed some minor work for BOC in the US but the bank is not thought to be a current client.

Covington's 50-lawyer London office became involved in the deal through financial regulatory partner Simon Currie's links with the bank. He was assisted on the deal by corporate partner Louise Nash.

The project began at the beginning of the year and closed last month.

The move by BOC is part of efforts to comply with the Financial Services Authority, which finds it more difficult to regulate banks that are branches of operations headquartered in jurisdictions such as China.

Currie said: "We are delighted to have had the opportunity to establish a relationship with Bank of China and advise on this transaction."