China Bohai Bank, the first national lender set up in the country in a decade, won regulatory approval to open a branch in Beijing, the first step in expanding outside its home base.

Bohai Bank, one-fifth owned by Standard Chartered Plc, has started hiring for the Beijing outlet and will commence operations in the nation's capital later this year, the Tianjin-based company said in an e-mailed statement.

Bohai Bank aims to repeat the success of 10-year-old Beijing-based China Minsheng Banking Corp, which quadrupled its assets in the past five years to become China's fastest-growing bank. Bohai Bank has a national license, permitting expansion without geographic limits, unlike small city-commercial banks.

The company, named after the sea in North China, plans to open as many as seven outlets nationwide, including one in Beijing and break even by 2009. It was the first national lender based in the northern coastal city of Tianjin.

Bohai Bank, which operates eight branches in its home base, had 14.6 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) of deposits and 15.5 billion yuan of loans as of June 31, according to the statement. Its assets totaled 22.2 billion yuan.