STANDARD Chartered Bank expects to open its first rural branch on the Chinese mainland in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the fourth quarter, a senior banker said yesterday in Shanghai.

The British bank has already finished renovating the Inner Mongolia branch and is awaiting final regulatory approval, said Christine Ip, head of consumer banking of Standard Chartered Bank (China) Co Ltd, yesterday in Shanghai.

When asked about the reported preparation for a rural bank in Chongming, Shanghai, Ip said the bank, which has 15 branches, 32 sub-branches and a representative office on the mainland will take a "step-by-step" strategy.

Other overseas banks are sniffing opportunities in China's vast rural banking market. HSBC on Tuesday announced the start of its second rural outlet on the mainland in Chongqing after it opened its first in Hubei Province.

China is shifting resources to the countryside, home to two-thirds of its 1.3 billion people. China has been restructuring the financial industry in rural areas since 2003 by closing unprofitable cooperatives and injecting capital into the rest.

Standard Chartered, among the first batch of four overseas banks to be locally incorporated on the mainland, is pushing ahead with its consumer banking business.

The bank yesterday signed a cooperative deal with Shanghai Tourism Industry Association to promote tourism banking in the city.