BEIJING, Feb.27 -- The country's top lender, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), has invited eight banks to bid for the right to arrange its US$10 billion initial public offering (IPO), a Hong Kong newspaper said Saturday.

    Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, China International Capital Corp. and HSBC Holding Plc. were selected, the South China Morning Post quoted unnamed sources as saying.

    The paper said Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley was excluded. Morgan Stanley, with its Chinese joint venture CICC, sponsored the US$9.2 billion Hong Kong listing of China Construction Bank (HK: 0939) last year.

    ICBC, which has said it hopes to sell shares to the public before the end of the year, has brought in strategic investors in preparation for the listing.

    The bank agreed last month to sell stakes totaling US$3.78 billion to Goldman Sachs, Germany's Allianz and American Express.

    Domestic banks are racing to boost their capital base to expand into the country's undeveloped consumer finance markets, such as mortgages and credit cards.

    China has encouraged its largest banks to list shares abroad, to introduce stronger accountability into a banking system with a long history of poor risk management.

    Analysts expect domestic banks to offer more than US$20 billion worth of shares to the public this year. Bank of China, China's second-largest lender, will also list shares sometime this year. It planned to list in Hong Kong before ICBC, but last week's media reports said BOC will issue shares after ICBC.

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)