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HONG KONG: Bank of East Asia, which last week said 2006 net income rose to a record, will add employees in China this year in an effort to increase profit from the mainland by more than 25 percent, according to the bank's chairman, David Li.

The Hong Kong-based bank, whose shares have doubled in the past year, will employ at least another 500 people in China in 2007, Li said in an interview. It will add four outlets in Shanghai, bringing the number of branches and sub-branches there to more than 10.

Hong Kong banks are stepping up mainland expansion after China in December allowed them to begin competing for the nation's $4.3 trillion of deposits. Bank of East Asia's profit in China almost doubled in 2006 as demand for loans soared in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

"We'll definitely be investing substantially in mainland China," Li said, declining to give a figure. "We're targeting cities in the western part of China."

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