The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's largest lender, intends to list simultaneously in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

The Shanghai Securities News reported yesterday that the bank is planning a dual listing at a single initial public offering (IPO) price within the year, citing an unidentified person close to the deal.

The bank's IPO in Hong Kong is expected to raise more than US$12 billion and the listing in Shanghai will raise at least 20 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion), the report said.

The ICBC previously planned to follow a listing path recently taken by Bank of China, which raised US$9.7 billion in its Hong Kong IPO and 20 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion) in a Shanghai listing a month later.

"The ICBC may adopt a different approach from Bank of China, as market regulators move towards simultaneous listings," the Shanghai Securities News quoted sources close to the bank's management team as saying.

"Such a listing will give fair treatment to investors," said Dong Chen, an analyst with CITIC China Securities.

Under a simultaneous listing, A-share investors would avoid paying higher premiums than H-shares investors so that they can benefit from the reform of the domestic State-owned commercial bank.

In addition, the bank could maximize fund-raising efficiency by lowering costs, Dong told China Daily.

ICBC officials said they were still studying the listing plan and that there was no essential difference between listing in Hong Kong first or listing simultaneously in the two markets.

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