LONDON (Reuters) — HSBC, Europe's biggest bank and the owner of the Bank of Bermuda, would be keen to have a share listing on the Shanghai stock exchange when regulations permit, a top executive said yesterday."We would love to list HSBC on the Shanghai exchange," Michael Smith, president and CEO of HSBC Asia, said.

Such a move would effectively take the London-headquartered bank back to its roots. Its name derives from The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp., which started with offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai in 1865 by providing banking services to business communities of the China coast.

"The market will change at some stage and we would love to be first off the rail," Smith said at a briefing on HSBC's commercial banking business, which he also heads.

There are no major foreign listings in Shanghai and none are expected in the short-term as several technical issues still need to be resolved.

HSBC, which is listed in London and Hong Kong and has maintained a presence in mainland China, was one of several high-profile firms being courted by Shanghai to help boost the bourse, the Financial Times reported earlier this month.

Earlier this week China's Bank of Communications surged on their debut on the Shanghai market, handing HSBC a paper profit of over $12 billion for its 18.6 percent stake in the bank.