An HSBC Bank (China) Co Ltd outlet in Shanghai. [Photo / China Daily]

BEIJING - HSBC, Europe's biggest lender, is set to continue its expansion on Chinese mainland and will set up 15 new outlets in cities and three rural outlets this year, a senior executive said on Tuesday.

"As the central bank continues to raise interest rates, we expect revenue from the net-interest margin to continue rising as we have already altered our borrowing rates in accordance with the changes," said Peter Wong, chief executive of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp Ltd.

Wong made the remarks in Hong Kong during a telephone news briefing on Tuesday.

By the end of last year, HSBC had 106 outlets in 27 cities and 16 rural banks in the Chinese mainland, which operate as part of HSBC Asia. It has also set up two new outlets since the start of 2011. Its subsidiary, Hang Seng Bank, had 38 outlets in 13 cities at the end of 2010.

"Our growth momentum in the Chinese mainland and in the Asia-Pacific area will continue to increase," Wong said.

In 2010, the bank's pretax profit for the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Hong Kong, reached $5.7 billion, exceeding the special administrative region.

Operations in China provided the bank's highest pretax profit growth (94 percent to $215 million) in Asia, followed by India with a profit growth rate of 82 percent.

Wong attributed 2010's rapid growth in the mainland market to a 45 percent increase in loans.

However, in the future, the focus will be on improving "non-interest" revenue in the Asia-Pacific region, he said, referring to businesses such as insurance and wealth products.

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"We will continue to deepen our relationship with clients, and increase our cross-selling operations to realize synergies," he said.

The Chinese mainland was one of the six "prioritized markets" in Asia, excluding Hong Kong, from which HSBC expected to secure higher growth. The others were Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, India and Australia.

He said the bank would further extend its mainland network and add more staff members to support its development in the country.

"It is a challenge to find qualified employees in the Chinese mainland, and we face a talent drain because HSBC employees are highly valued in the labor market."

Globally, HSBC posted pretax profit of $19 billion in 2010, more than double the $7.1 billion figure for 2009, signaling the bank's best performance since 2006. Losses from bad debts fell to $14 billion over the year from $26 billion in 2009.

The results didn't please everyone, however, with some analysts saying the numbers came in below expectations.

HSBC said on Monday that it has lowered its target return on equity to somewhere between 12 and 15 percent from the previous range of 15 to 19 percent.