China's securities regulator said on Monday it has approved the initial public offering application from the Bank of Beijing.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) made the announcement in a statement posted on its website.

The lender would become the third Chinese city-level commercial bank to go public in the domestic A-share market following Bank of Nanjing and Bank of Ningbo.

The bank said earlier it plans to issue 1.2 billion A shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, which would account for 19.27 percent of its enlarged capital after Shanghai listing.

It would use the raised fund to boost its capital adequacy ratio and its capabilities of risk control and profit making, according to a draft prospectus submitted to CSRC for approval.

The stocks of the lender were valued at 1.96 yuan per share before public listing.

The bank did not reveal how much it aimed to raise from the IPO, however, earlier reports said it hoped to raise about 13 billion yuan (US$ 1.7 billion) on the domestic equity market.

The exact date for its IPO and the price range for the listing are yet to be announced by the bank.

The lender also said it would launch an H-share IPO "at an appropriate time" after its A-share listing, with the detailed plan of Hong Kong listing pending for approval from its shareholders, according to the prospectus.

Bank of Beijing reported a net profit of 550 million yuan (US$ 72.4 million) in the first quarter this year with assets totaling 263.98 billion yuan (US$ 34.7 billion).

Its capital adequacy ratio stood at 13.23 percent at the end of March, with the non-performing loan ratio at 3.34 percent.

The Dutch banking and insurance group ING is the largest shareholder of the bank with a 19.9 percent stake, while the International Financial Corporation holds five percent as the fourth largest shareholder.

The CSRC has allowed the Bank of Nanjing and Bank of Ningbo to list shares on the Shanghai bourse in July, which raised a combined 11.07 billion yuan (US$ 1.46 billion).

Other city commercial banks, such as Bank of Shanghai, Bank of Tianjin, Hangzhou City Commercial Bank and Bank of Chongqing, also announced plans to raise funds by going public. There are 114 city commercial banks in operation in China.

(Xinhua News Agency August 28 2007)