Agricultural Bank of China attracted more than 30 billion yuan (4.4 billion dollars) from key domestic institutions as it opened A-share subscriptions in Shanghai, state media said Friday.

AgBank, which plans to raise 23.2 billion dollars in what would be a world-record initial public offering in Shanghai and Hong Kong, started taking orders from institutional investors on Thursday.

The cornerstone investors include major insurance firms such as China Life Insurance, Ping An Insurance, People's Insurance Co of China and Taikang Life Insurance, said the Shanghai Securities News, citing unnamed sources.

The nation's third-largest bank by assets plans to raise as much as 10.1 billion dollars in Shanghai, if an over-allotment option is fully exercised, after setting a price range of 2.52-2.68 yuan (37-39 US cents) a share.

It plans to sell no more than 10.23 billion A-shares to domestic cornerstone investors, or nearly half of the Shanghai offering, to fetch up to 27.4 billion yuan, based on the top end of the A-share price range, the report said.

It could raise as much as 13.1 billion US dollars from the Hong Kong offering, based on the top end of a price range of 2.88-3.48 Hong Kong dollars (37-44 US cents) a share.

Eleven cornerstone investors, including Qatar's investment fund, have stumped up 5.45 billion US dollars for the Hong Kong offering, Dow Jones Newswires reported earlier, citing unnamed sources.

The bank will take orders for the Shanghai part of the flotation from retail investors on Tuesday and start trading of its shares in Shanghai on July 15. Trading of its Hong Kong H-shares will start the following day.