Hangzhou City Commercial Bank is scheduled to open its first branch in Shanghai on March 6 as it expands into the Yangtze River Delta.
The bank in nearby Zhejiang Province gained approval to set up a Shanghai branch in October. It has already set up a branch in Zhoushan in Zhejiang.
The bank has a three-step development strategy to improve stake structure, seek overseas capital and seek listing in the long run with geographic expansion.
Its rival city commercial banks in Ningbo, Nanjing and Beijing have already listed on the Chinese mainland's stock market. China is allowing qualified city commercial lenders to step out of their city headquarters to foster a more competitive industry.
The Hangzhou bank is the third city commercial bank to enter Shanghai after Bank of Ningbo and Bank of Beijing. "The Shanghai branch will help us to learn from expertise in the international financial center," it said.
Its assets topped 64.9 billion yuan (US$9.1 billion) as of last September, with deposits of 59.8 billion yuan and lending of 38.2 billion yuan.