The Bank of Communications intends to proceed with the Shanghai portion of its initial public offering. 

The bank is planning a duel IPO, in Hong Kong and Shanghai, and it is expected to be one of the biggest in Hong Kong this year.

The Hong Kong-Based newspaper the Standard quoted a source from the bank as saying that the bank now plans to sell 15 percent of its existing shares, for up to 2 billion US dollars, in Hong Kong by late May at the earliest.

HSBC Holdings would maintain its 19.9 percent stake in the Chinese bank by buying new shares during the stock offering.

The bank posted a more than 30 percent jump in 2004 operating profits, despite nationwide credit curbs.

(CRI.com February 22, 2005)