Bank of Communications Ltd (Bocom), part owned by HSBC Holdings Plc, plans to buy 85 percent of Hubei International Trust & Investment Co. to lessen its dependence on lending, where competition from overseas is heating up.

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The bank will pay 1.22 billion yuan (US$159 million) for the stake and rename the firm Bank of Communications International Trust & Investment Co., the Shanghai-based company said in a statement to the city's stock exchange today. The plan awaits regulatory approval.

"They are trying to expand into other non-traditional banking services," said Jim Antos, an analyst at Bear Stearns Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong. "So this would be one little piece in the puzzle."

Bocom, which raised US$3.3 billion selling shares in Shanghai earlier this month, wants to transform into a financial supermarket whose offerings include securities, trust products and insurance. Competition is growing after foreign rivals including Citigroup Inc. and HSBC Holdings Plc were allowed to enter China's consumer banking market in December.

China's publicly traded banks last year derived 89 percent of earnings from interest income -- the difference between what they pay depositors and what they charge on loans -- according to UBS AG. That compares with 65 percent overseas.

Hubei Trust, based in the central China province of the same name, was founded in 2003 with 1.2 billion yuan of registered capital. Trusts in China typically earn fees from packaging and selling investment products whose underlying assets include real estate and public works projects.

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