(Bloomberg) ? Bermuda-based Accenture Ltd. the world?s second- largest consultant, plans to double its China workforce by 2007, betting that banks and insurers will boost technology spending as the country deregulates its financial industry.

Accenture will increase the number of workers in China to as many as 4,000 from 1,600, said Robert Gach, Asia Pacific managing partner for financial services. China is Accenture?s fastest- growing market for financial services, Gach said.

The consultant competes with International Business Machines Corp. and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in China, where banks and insurers are under pressure to upgrade technology and improve services. China pledged to fully deregulate its banking and insurance market by the end of 2006, giving overseas rivals such as Citigroup Inc. and American International Group little restriction to do business. ?China?s financial institutions need to compress in three years the technology processes the US and Europe took 30 years to do,? Gach said in an interview in Shanghai. ?We?re very excited about this particular opportunity.?

Chinese banks spent 2.59 billion yuan ($312.9 million) on computer services last year, while brokerages invested 579 million yuan, according to International Data Corp., a technology research company. China?s total spending on information technology reached $3.7 billion, 22.7 percent more than a year earlier, and is expected to grow 25.6 percent annually through 2008, International Data said.

?We?re at the tip of an iceberg on technology expenditure in China,? Gach said. ?If you look at Citibank or Bank of America, each of these institutions spend about $3 billion to $4 billion in technology.?

Accenture is already working with two state-owned banks and several shareholding banks in China, planning to sell them core banking software before offering them services to help them comply with international accounting and regulatory standards, Gach said. The company later plans to help Chinese lenders, especially those with big branch networks, centralise management and standardise services.

?It?s not an easy task to design a system that is suitable for a bank like us, which has such a big national network,? Zheng Yong, a Shanghai-based vice manager of China Construction Bank?s international department, said in a telephone interview. ?They need to fully understand our businesses and it takes years to implement.?

Accenture is also targeting overseas insurers starting business in China, and local ones that need to better manage their policies and customer services.

Accenture this week won a contract worth $12 million, its biggest deal in China, to help the Shanghai Stock Exchange install Xetra, the trading system used by Deutsche Boerse AG. The company was awarded the contract after beating out bids from OMX AB, the owner of the Stockholm Stock Exchange, and Euronext NV, Europe?s second-biggest stock exchange.

Accenture, formerly named Andersen Consulting, split from accounting group Andersen Worldwide SC in 2000 and became publicly held in 2001 in a $1.7 billion initial stock sale.

?China?s financial services, in terms of opening up, probably lagged some of the other industries,? Jeffrey Beg, Gach?s North Asia counterpart at Accenture, said in the same interview. ?You?ll see more deal announcements in the next six to nine months. There are a lot of activities going on.?