Bank of Shanghai yesterday opened a branch in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, to build up its strength in the Yangzte River Delta.

The Shanghai-headquartered bank, the biggest city-level commercial bank by assets, plans to take a bigger share of the market in neighboring Jiangsu.

"The set-up of the Nanjing branch marks our second step in expanding further in the delta," said Chen Xin, president of the bank, in a statement.

The bank yesterday granted a combined credit line of 15.5 billion yuan (US$2.1 billion) to six Nanjing companies.

The bank is the first among the country's 110-plus city commercial banks to expand outside of its hometown. Bank of Shanghai set up a branch in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, in 2006.

The bank also gained approval in August to set up a branch in Hangzhou.

China's 114 city commercial banks are under pressure to expand to benefit from the economy of scale.

The expansion is also part of a three-step development strategy - wooing strategic investors, expand outside of its city territory and go public.

The Bank of Beijing is poised to open a branch in Shanghai soon.

(Shanghai Daily October 23, 2007)