China Citic Bank Corp. may raise as much as $5.7 billion in the world's biggest initial public offering so far this year, testing a rally that made the nation's lenders the most expensive among Asia's emerging markets.

The bank plans to seek as much as 14.03 billion yuan ($1.82 billion) selling shares in Shanghai and may raise a further HK$30.17 billion ($3.86 billion) in a simultaneous Hong Kong offering.

Citic Bank will offer stock at a higher valuation than peers in South Korea or India, encouraged by demand that enabled Chinese lenders and insurers to raise $61.1 billion since June 2005. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. overtook HSBC Holdings Plc as the world's third-largest bank by market value as its stock surged in Shanghai after an October IPO.

Beijing-based Citic Bank plans to offer shares in Shanghai at 4.66 yuan to 6.1 yuan and in Hong Kong at HK$4.72 to HK$6.17 apiece. The price ranges value Citic Bank at 2.48 times to 2.81 times its estimated book value this year.

China has the most expensive bank stocks in Asia's emerging markets, trading at about 3.2 times estimated book value in 2007, compared with 1.7 times for peers in India and 1.4 times for Korea.