BANK of Shanghai has hired underwriters to help the city lender towards a listing which it described as a "strategic choice."

The bank has hired Guotai Jun'an Securities, Citic Securities and Shenyin & Wanguo Securities as underwriters, Goldman Sachs Gao Hua Securities as financial adviser and PricewaterhouseCoopers as auditor, the bank said yesterday.

"The kickoff of its listing process is a strategic choice for the bank," said Chen Xin, chairman and president of the bank. "Listing is a breakthrough for the bank in speeding up regional expansion and international management."

Bank of Shanghai is the first city commercial bank to expand outside its city headquarters. The bank has branches in Ningbo, Nanjing and Hangzhou in nearby Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces. It is preparing to open branches in Tianjin Municipality and Sichuan Province's Chengdu City.

The expansion is part of the lender's three-step development strategy - woo strategic investors, expand outside its city territory and go public in the long term.

Its city bank rivals Bank of Ningbo, Bank of Beijing and Bank of Nanjing are all listed.

The bank has attracted the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp, International Finance Corp and Hong Kong-based Shanghai Commercial Bank as overseas investors.

The bank's assets topped 309 billion yuan (US$44.61 billion) at the end of 2007. Its provision against bad loans stood at 108 percent. Its capital adequacy ratio was 11.3 percent, higher than the 8-percent regulatory minimum.

Its lending rose to 150 billion yuan at the end of 2007, up 18.9 percent from 126.2 billion yuan a year earlier. Its deposits grew 16.9 percent to 260 billion yuan.