BEIJING/HONG KONG, Oct 16 (Reuters) - China Everbright Bank

601818.SS has received regulatory approval for an overseas share sale, part of a drive by China's middle-ranking banks to meet tougher "Basel III" capital requirements.

In an exchange filing on Wednesday, the bank said it was now awaiting listing approval from the Hong Kong Exchange.

It is the Beijing-based bank's third attempt to sell stock in Hong Kong, after it shelved similar plans in 2011 and 2012.

No further comment was immediately available from Everbright Bank, and it was not clear from the filing how many shares it planned to sell, or at what price. Thomson Reuters news and analysis service IFR reported in June that Everbright planned to raise $3 billion to $4 billion with the listing. ID:nL3N0F42YQ

According to the filing, the China Securities Regulatory Commission gave the green light for Everbright to sell as many as 15 billion ordinary shares overseas.

Everbright Bank's Shanghai-listed shares closed on Wednesday at 2.81 yuan, down 7.9 percent this year compared to a 4 percent fall for the CSI300 index .CSI300 of the leading Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listings.

Everbright's stock was hard hit by a central bank direct cash crunch at the end of June, mainly because the lender was seen to be reliant on short-term funding markets to survive.

ID:nL3N0EV237

Although China's largest banks are among the best capitalised in the world, its small to mid-sized banks face funding concerns, particularly as the national economy continues to slow.

Many lenders have undertaken stock offerings aimed at improving the health of their balance sheets.

China now requires its biggest banks, including Everbright, to raise their Tier 1 capital ratios to 8.9 percent by end-2014 and 10.5 percent by 2018.

Everbright Bank's core Tier 1 ratio - the ratio of equity capital to risk-weighted assets - is one of the lowest among China's 15 biggest banks. ID:nL4N0GS084

Its risk-adjusted Tier 1 capital ratio now stands at 8.34 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

China Merchants Bank 3968.HK 60999.SS , the sixth-largest lender, raised $5.7 billion in September through new share issues in Hong Kong and Shanghai, the world's second-largest equity offering this year. ID:nL4N0HK1YT

($1 = 6.1026 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting By Matthew Miller and Clement Tan; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

((matthew.miller1@thomsonreuters.com))

Keywords: EVERBRIGHT SHARES/