BEIJING, Nov. 2 (AP) -- China's banking regulator on Thursday denied a report that Citigroup Inc. has won approval to buy a Chinese bank in a US$3 billion (€2.2 billion) deal.

No bid for the Guangdong Development Bank has been approved by regulators, said Liu Mingkang, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission. He was speaking to reporters at a banking conference in Beijing.

Liu denied a report late Wednesday by the government's Xinhua News Agency that Citigroup had been approved to buy the bank after a bidding contest with French bank Societe Generale and China's second largest insurer, Ping An Group.