The bank's wholesale client revenue - or revenue it generated from services to corporate clients such as lending and trade finance - gained 80 percent in China's mainland in the first half while profit doubled.

The figure for client revenue for the whole China market, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, jumped 42 percent in the same period.

"China is always a key market for banks," said David Godwin, managing director of Standard Chartered's wholesale operations in China. "Our growth in the country is strong, and the trend is continuing."

The bank's wholesale banking business posted a 50 percent compound annual growth rate from 2003 to 2006.

The bank declined to give precise financial figures, however.

China is now Standard Chartered's sixth-biggest market in the wholesale banking sector, up from 2004's ninth biggest, analysts said.

"We have been here for 150 years, and we want to be here for another 150 years," said Andrew Bester, managing director of wholesale banking for China and Japan. "We want to continue our expansion, and we are interested in being locally incorporated if regulators want us to."

Standard Chartered now has 20 outlets on the Chinese mainland, including 10 branches, six sub-branches and four representative offices. The bank plans to add another two sub-branches by the year's end.

The bank has received approval from the China Banking Regulatory Commission to pool clients' yuan deposits to invest in overseas fixed-income products under the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor program.

It said it is getting ready to launch products soon.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)