Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank, the first Chinese mainland-based rural bank listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, started trading at 5.45 HK dollars at its debut on Thursday, representing an increase of 3.8 percent from its offering price.

Speaking at a press briefing after the IPO ceremony, Chairman and Executive Director of the bank Liu Jianzhong said that he is satisfied with the performance of the stock.

He told local media he felt that the IPO of the bank is of great significance as its success will convince more Chinese rural financial institutions to get listed in Hong Kong.

Listing prospectus showed that the bank sold 2.186 billion shares at 5.25 HK dollars each, with 92.5 percent of the shares for the international placing and the rest for public offering in Hong Kong.

The company said net proceeds from the share sales will be used to strengthen its capital base and fund business growth.

According to statistics provided by China's banking regulatory body CBRC, Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank is the largest bank in terms of total assets and total deposits in Chongqing. As of June 30, 2010, the bank has a total asset of 261.6 billion RMB (about US$39.34 billion) and total deposits of 185.4 billion RMB (about US$27.88 billion).

For the six months ended June 30, 2010, the bank had a net profit of 1.7 billion RMB (about US$256 million).

(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2010)