(Yicai Global) May 6 -- Bank of China will take heed of the government's advice to protect investors' interests by shouldering part of the massive losses that its clients suffered due to last month's oil price crash, according to insiders.

BOC is in talks with its customers to return up to 20 percent of the initial investment to those who had invested less than CNY10 million (USD1.4 million) in Crude Oil Treasure, a product linked to West Texas Intermediate crude futures, Securities Times reported today, citing several investors.

The investors had different ideas about which point of time the settlement price should be based on. Those who cannot reach a deal can pursue litigation, the Beijing-based bank said on its website. Those who lost their money and have not received a call yet could still do so tomorrow, the Securities Times report added.

The State Council's finance committee urged the country's financial institutions to boost risk management on May 4 after the May futures contract for West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for US oil, touched minus USD37.63 on April 21 for the first time in history. That prompted lenders, including BOC and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, to stop opening new positions in some related products linked to commodity futures.

More than 60,000 BOC customers lost CNY4.2 billion (USD592.6 million) due to the cratering oil prices, financial news outlet Caixin reported yesterday. Moreover, as WTI dipped below zero, investors also owed CNY5.8 billion to the bank.

BOC's stock price [SHA: 601988] fell 1.2 percent to CNY3.44 (US 49 cents) in the afternoon.

Editor: Emmi Laine