* Says expects investment bank income to double in 2012
* IPO pushed back from 2012 to 2013 - global head
* Still hiring, poached senior executive for IT role
By Sarah White
LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - Russian lender Otkritie plans to double revenues at its investment bank to $650 million in 2012, the head of the unit said, ahead of an initial public offering the following year.
The bank, which has set out to hire close to 100 traders and investment bankers in Russia and London in the past year, plans to expand further before the listing and set up an office in Hong Kong. It is due to open one in the United States in May.
"It's going to be a front office, to have a presence in the United States," Roman Lokhov told Reuters in an interview. He said it would be staffed by 10 to 12 people.
Otkritie does not regularly publish results.
Lokhov said Otkritie was projecting revenues of $60 million to $70 million for the London division this year on the back of its aggressive hiring drive. He said the investment bank as a whole was likely to make $325 million in revenues this year.
The firm, partly owned by VTB Bank, founded its investment bank in early 2007 and has poached fixed income and equities trading specialists from larger local rivals such as Renaissance Capital and from international firms such as Citi.
It had been considering a market listing at the end of 2012, but the timetable had now slipped, Lokhov said, confirming recent reports. He has previously said the bank could sell a 20 percent stake.
Lokhov is head of Otkritie's global markets and investment banking business and chief executive of the London brokerage Otkritie Securities.
The company said it has hired the former deputy chief executive of Russian stock exchange RTS, Dmitry Shatsky, for its technology division and is hiring for more senior positions.
Shatsky will report to Sergey Rozov, another recent hire from UBS who will be in charge of the investment bank's technology offering. (Reporting by Sarah White; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)