China Construction Bank said it plans to raise 61.7 billion yuan (US$9.2 billion) in the biggest rights offer in Asia as it joined its major state-owned rivals in raising funds.

The world's second-largest bank by market value will sell 630 million yuan-backed A shares at 3.77 yuan (57 US cents) each and 15.73 billion H shares at HK$4.38 (57 US cents), it said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday.

The bank's fundraising plan followed the rights offers of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Bank of China.

"Construction Bank's fund-raising plan is 17 percent smaller than its previously announced plan," said Zhang Qi, a Haitong Securities Co analyst. "The cutback may be to avoid hurting market sentiment as several other banks are also slated to raise funds."

Bank of America Corp, the largest shareholder in CCB, is unlikely to invest in the rights offer, Bloomberg News reported yesterday, citing sources it didn't name.

China's big five state-owned banks have announced plans to raise a combined US$63 billion since the beginning of this year after they extended a record 9.6 trillion yuan of new loans last year.

The Agricultural Bank of China went public in the summer to raise US$22.1 billion as it executed an over-allotment option, which helped it surpass ICBC as the world's biggest initial public offering.

Banks in China are benefiting from record liquidity flow which boosted their interest income.

Beijing-based CCB's profit jumped better than expected in the third quarter by 31 percent to 39.7 billion yuan. The bank's interest income rose 17 percent to 182 billion yuan, with interest margin up 0.04 percentage point to 2.45 percent.

However, the sizzling growth in loans also diluted their capital for future expansion especially after authorities implemented a tighter regulatory requirement.

The minimum regulatory capital adequacy ratio for large banks is 11.5 percent and 10 percent for smaller banks.

CCB's CAR, the main indicator of a bank's financial strength, dipped 0.06 percentage point to 11.64 percent at the end of September.