SHANGHAI, April 1 (Reuters) - China will extend the lockup period for foreign strategic ownership in its commercial banks to five years, the country's top banking regulator was quoted as saying by the official Shanghai Securities News on Wednesday.

If domestic commercial banks bring in foreign strategic investors, the lockup period for the stakes held by such investors will be at least five years, Liu Mingkang, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, was quoted as saying.

The current lockup period for foreign strategic investors' stakes at some commercial banks is three years, the newspaper said, without giving further details.

Although China's lenders have been largely insulated from the global financial crisis, a growing number of foreign banks, squeezed for cash at home, are selling up their stakes in Chinese banks to raise money amid the global financial crisis.

Bank of America (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has sold part of its stake in China Construction Bank (0939.HK: Quote, Profile, Research), while UBS (UBSN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) each sold their entire holdings in Bank of China (3988.HK: Quote, Profile, Research)(601988.SS: Quote, Profile, Research). (Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)