PING An Insurance (Group) Co is considering a merger of its two banking affiliates and perhaps buying others to build up its financial capacity. Ping An, partly owned by HSBC, is finalizing to merge Shenzhen Commercial Bank into Ping An Bank. In February, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp agreed to sell its 27 percent stake in Ping An Bank to Ping An (Group), making Ping An Bank a wholly owned subsidiary under Ping An's umbrella.

The transaction was viewed as a move towards a merger of Ping An Bank and Shenzhen Commercial Bank which is 89 percent owned by Ping An (Group).

"Banking and asset management will be the next areas that we want to develop," said Ma. "We want to finish combining the two (banks) and then we will explore possibilities to boost our banking arm."