HSBC will seek a listing in China as soon as the Chinese authorities lift restrictions on the presence of foreign companies on the Shanghai stock exchange.

Speaking as a business delegation led by Gordon Brown departed for China yesterday, Stephen Green, chairman of Britain's biggest bank, told The Times: “There's no country I regard as strategically more important to us than China. We'd love to be [listed] there and the day they allow it, we will be queueing up at the door.”

“I think there's a real investor interest and it's also a way of demonstrating that we're really committed to this place.”

Authorities in Beijing are considering easing rules that block non-Chinese companies from the local exchange. HSBC has five listings, including dual primary listings in London and Hong Kong.

Mr Green said that HSBC, the largest foreign bank in China, would add two or three new cities this year to its 17-city, 61-branch network in the country. He added that the bank also planned to open a “handful” of new rural outlets, after the launch last November of the first branch aimed at provincial businesses.

HSBC will not add to the four stakes it holds in Chinese financial services companies.

“We see these as long-term strategic partnerships,” Mr Green said. “We're not about to cash them in ... [But] we're unlikely to take any more bank stakes. We don't need to.”

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