ICBC's aggregate assets overseas surpass US$100B

ICBC's aggregate assets in overseas subsidiaries rose 37.2% over the end of 2010 to USD 103.869 billion at the end of June. In the January-June period of 2011, overseas subsidiaries of ICBC posted a USD 735 million pre-tax gain, rising 43.0% year-on-year and chalking another historic high.

As related by an executive with ICBC, up to end of June, the Bank has 220 overseas subsidiaries in 29 countries/regions and a global network of 1,516 correspondent banks in 134 countries/regions spreading over five continents of Asia, Africa, Europe, America and Australia for the better delivery of services to customers in different markets across the world.

In South Asia market, ICBC received a business license granted by the Reserve Bank of India for a branch in Mumbai on May 16. The two branches in Pakistan, Karachi Branch and Islamabad Branch, were also open to business on May 20 after going through the application procedures in a short period. ICBC was the only Chinese commercial bank in Pakistan to open branches. On August 5, ICBC reached agreement with South Africa Standard Bank Group on the sales and purchase of Standard Bank Argentina. Until then, ICBC has been progressing smoothly in extending its financial service network across the globe.

ICBC leverages its unified IT platform across the globe to promote nine product lines (including trade finance, syndicated loan, investment banking, personal banking, wealth management, private banking, cash management) outside China. As a result, overseas subsidiaries have significantly increased their number of overseas customers and business scale. ICBC opens a new ground in the localization of retail banking for overseas subsidiaries by bundling the bank card service with Internet Banking. At the end of June, ICBC has opened internet banking service in 17 overseas subsidiaries. Online personal users and corporate clients increase 19.7% and 16.5% respectively over the end of previous year. Over 200,000 credit cards have been issued overseas. Number of personal customers in overseas subsidiaries rose 31.8% over the end of previous year, while personal deposit and personal loan went up 28.7% and 22.8% respectively.

In cash management, ICBC effectively extends its service radius by setting up Asia Pacific Cash Management Center in Hong Kong, and China-Africa cash management platform with South Africa Standard Bank. Today, ICBC has 1508 cash management customers across the globe. In special finance and investment banking, ICBC lends intensive support to Chinese enterprises to "go global", providing investment banking service and financial support to top customers for their overseas acquisition and investment projects.

In the first half of 2011, ICBC concluded the major restructuring and M&A project - GCL Group's acquisition of a power plant in China, and achieved good result in the Wuhan Iron & Steel Group's acquisition of an iron mine in Madagascar. ICBC International, the investment banking arm of ICBC, has successfully participated in the IPO of Prada and Ferragamo, large IPOs of international influence. During the first six months of 2011, overseas subsidiaries have generated a revenue of RMB 392 million from investment banking, representing a year-on-year growth of 18.7%.