The ICBC is the latest Chinese bank to seek a flotation

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China's (ICBC) IPO "has been officially approved", said Liu Mingkang, chair of China's Banking Regulatory Commission.

ICBC could raise as much as $14bn (�7.7bn) through a simultaneous offer in Hong Kong and Shanghai, reports say.

It comes after the successful IPO of Bank of China in May.

Mainland float

Chinese state-owned banks have been raising billions of dollars as the country opens the banking market to foreign competitors under its terms of joining the World Trade Organization.

Earlier in July, Bank of China shares were floated in Shanghai in the country's biggest ever domestic initial public offering. It had earlier floated in Hong Kong.

The state-run bank, the country's second-biggest lender, raised $2.5bn from the mainland float, and $9.7bn in the Hong Kong float.

And China Construction Bank raised $8bn in October, the world's biggest IPO last year.

ICBC had assets of 6.5 trillion yuan (US$800bn; �438bn) at the end of 2005.

Plans for an IPO by the remaining big state-owned commercial bank, Agricultural Bank of China, have been delayed because of its large amount of bad loans.

Executives sought

Meanwhile, Pudong Development Bank, Citigroup's partner in China, is searching around the world for 10 top executives, including a vice-president and branch managers, reports from Shanghai said on Wednesday.

Pudong Bank is controlled by an investment arm of the Shanghai city government.

The bank, the fourth-largest Shanghai-listed lender, is keen to find Westerners familiar with Asian culture, particularly those already working with overseas banks in China.