Online subscription of IPO (initial public offering) shares of the Industrial Bank, China's tenth largest, started on Tuesday.

The bank announced that the IPO shares will be priced between 15 to 15.98 yuan.

The bank has received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to issue 1.001 billion Renminbi-denominated A-shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, which is expected to raise close to 16 billion yuan.

The funds will be used to boost its capital adequacy ratio, strengthen its risk prevention capability and profitability and support its business development, according to bank sources.

Listing on the stock market will enhance modernization of the bank's management and business operation of the bank and accelerate its development into a modern commercial bank, said GaoJianping, the banks' chairman.

The Industrial Bank, headquartered in Fuzhou, the capital city of East China's Fujian province, is a joint venture controlled by the Fujian provincial government and the Hang Seng Bank.

The Bank, formerly named the Fujian Industrial Bank, was founded in 1998. By the end of June 2006, its capital adequacy ratio was 7.17 percent, lower than the eight percent set by the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

BOC International (China) Limited is the lead underwriter of the country's tenth listed commercial bank to launch an IPO, which will be the largest IPO by a Fujian province company.

Over the last three years, the Industrial Bank has branched out into derivatives, asset trusteeship, and investment banking.

Its compound annual growth rate of capital, deposits and loans were all above the industrial average. The company reported net income of 14.34 billion yuan in 2003, 17.66 billion yuan in 2004, and 24.65 billion yuan in 2005. Its compound annual growth rate reached 31.11 percent.

By the end of 2006 the bank's total assets exceeded 532.6 billion yuan.

The profit growth rate is not enough to fuel planned expansion, making a public listing necessary to raise required capital, said the company.

In 2006, China saw more banks list on both domestic and foreign markets. The Bank of China issued A shares, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China issued A and H shares, quickly becoming major blue chips on the domestic securities market.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is now the largest listed bank in Asia and the fifth largest in the world.