The Bank of Nanjing and the Bank of Ningbo, the first two small commercial banks to go public at home, have announced their prices for initial public offerings (IPO).

IPO price for the Bank of Nanjing is 11 yuan per share while that for the Bank of Ningbo is 9.2 yuan(US$1.21) per share. Both chose the high end of their IPO price ranges.

The two banks announced their IPO price ranges on Wednesday, with the Bank of Nanjing of 9.8-11 yuan and the Bank of Ningbo of 8-9.2 yuan.

The Bank of Nanjing, partly-owned by BNP Paribas and based in the capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, will sell 630 million A shares, compared with the expected 700 million, or 36.72 percent of its total shares.

The bank, which has 58 branches in Jiangsu, reported gross assets worth 57.9 billion yuan (7.6 billion U.S. dollars) and net profits of 595 million yuan last year, as well as a non-performing loan ratio of 2.47 percent.

The Bank of Ningbo, which has Taiwan-based Bank of Overseas Chinese as one of its shareholders, is set to sell up to 450 million shares, or 18 percent of its total capitalization.

With 68 branches in eastern Zhejiang Province, the Bank of Ningbo had 56.6 billion yuan in total assets, with a non-performing loan ratio of 0.33 percent in 2006.

Three of China's four leading state-owned commercial banks and six of its 12 mid-sized commercial banks have been listed on the domestic market.

China has 114 small city commercial bank in operation.

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