Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPDB), a bank listed on the Shanghai bourse, plans to issue 700 million new shares by the end of this year, the Xinhua-run China Securities Journal reports.

The new issue will lift SPDB's capital adequacy ratio far above the compulsory eight percent and help boost its expansion, the bank's vice-president Zhang Yaolin told the ongoing Beijing International Finance Exposition.

Capital adequacy ratio is the measure of a bank's capital against its outstanding loans.

Zhang added that Citigroup, which currently holds a 4.2 percent stake in SPDB, will raise its share to 19.9 percent.

Responding to recent reports that SPDB will be listed in Hong Kong, Zhang said: "There are a lot of locations to choose from for overseas listing and the bank will take the risks into consideration".

Established in January 1993, SPDB was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in November 1999. By the end of 2005, the bank had 573.1 billion yuan (US$71.64 billion) in assets, with profits of almost 19.3 billion yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency November 9, 2006)