BEIJING, June 6 -- Hang Seng Bank, a Hong Kong unit of HSBC Holdings Plc., said it plans to invest over HK$1 billion (US$129 million) over the next three years to expand on the mainland.

    The investment will be used to set up new outlets and for training, bringing the number of branches to more than 30, Johnson Fu, head of the bank's mainland division, said at the opening of a sub-branch in Shanghai.

    Currently the bank has 13 outlets on the mainland, including the newly opened sub-branch, according to Fu. Hang Seng has also received regulatory approval to open a new sub-branch in Shanghai and will upgrade a representative office in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, to a branch.

    The bank plans to increase its payroll on the mainland from 400 staff to more than 600 by the end of this year, Fu said.

    He added the bank has no intention to take a stake in another mainland lender or to set up a credit card joint venture with its mainland partner for now.

    "We are quite satisfied with the status quo of our cooperation with Industrial Bank," he said.

    Hang Seng Bank and International Finance Corp., the investment arm of the World Bank, bought stakes of 15.98 percent and 4 percent in the mainland bank in late 2003.

    Hang Seng and Industrial Bank have since been cooperating in areas such as consumer banking and internal auditing.

(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)