China's securities regulator has approved Industrial Bank Co's proposal to sell shares in an initial public offer, according to a statement on the Website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

Industrial Bank, based in southeastern China's Fujian Province, had applied to sell as many as 1.33 billion new shares, according to documents posted on the regulator's Website last week, without giving details on pricing.

Bankers familiar with the sale said last year that Industrial Bank had planned to raise 10 billion yuan (US$1.28 billion) in the IPO, according to Bloomberg News. That would make it the fourth-biggest domestic offering ever by a Chinese bank. When asked in May if that figure was accurate, President Li Renjie replied "maybe."

A four-year investment boom has powered China's annual economic expansion of 10 percent, double the global average, pushing the country past the United Kingdom to become the world's fourth-largest economy. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China Ltd, China Construction Bank Corp, Bank of Communications Ltd and China Merchants Bank Co have raised more than US$47 billion from share sales in China's mainland and Hong Kong since June 2005.

Industrial Bank would become the eighth bank quoted on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.

Chinese banks including Bank of China have seen their domestic shares surge after selling stock in 2006, enticing smaller competitors to follow suit. The benchmark Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index more than doubled in the past year as the end of a moratorium on share sales helped revive investor sentiment.

Chinese bank shares fell yesterday in Hong Kong after the central bank last week raised the amount of money lenders must set aside as reserves.

Bank of Communications shares dropped 3.7 percent to HK$8.66 (US$1.11). China Construction Bank slipped 3.4 percent to HK$4.89 while the shares in Bank of China fell three percent to HK$4.19. ICBC declined 3.4 percent to HK$4.78.

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