Other banks including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (1398), China Construction Bank (0939) and Bank of Communications (3328) have applied to set up branches, the Taipei-based China Times reported yesterday.

The report came as a delegation from the finance committee of Taiwan's legislature began a visit to Beijing.

The group includes representatives of Taiwanese banks, among them the Bank of Taiwan, Land Bank of Taiwan, First Commercial Bank and Taiwan Cooperative Bank.

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The delegates met BOC president Li Lihui who said the mainland lender "cannot wait" to open branches in Taiwan. Li will lead a mainland delegation to Taiwan in September and plans to open a local branch there by the end of the year, the newspaper reported.

Shares of most mainland lenders rose in Hong Kong yesterday despite having their performance forecast revised downward by investment banks including UBS.

The H-Financial index yesterday outperformed the market and rose 0.52 percent, or 77 points, to end at 15,002, with BOC taking the lead.

UBS analyst Victor Wang downgraded CCB, CITIC Bank (0998) and China Merchants Bank (3968) to "neutral" and BoCom to "sell" because he believes the peak of their credit costs has only been delayed as a result of Beijing's stimulus package and has not disappeared. The risk is still there, Wang said.