Frank Newman talks to China Daily.

The Shenzhen-based mid-sized lender has seen its plan to increase its footprint nationwide hindered by capital constraint problems, as a result of which the bank hasn't opened any new branches in the past six years.

With capital injection from Ping An, SDB is set to step up its national expansion. In mid July, the bank announced it would open a new branch in Wuhan, Hubei province, this year, which could gain the bank a foothold in central China, a lucrative market it has long been interested in.

With an operation in 19 cities across the nation at present, the bank has set a rather solid footing in eastern and southern China, while western and central parts of the nation remained largely untapped.

Newman, the 67-year-old former deputy secretary of the US Treasury who came in as chairman of SDB four years ago, is credited together with his team for turning around the once debt-ridden lender, which has reported an 8 percent net profit growth in the first half and had maintained its non-performing loan ratio at a low level of 0.72 percent by the end of June.