(11 April 2007 – China) China’s largest bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), has engaged Goldman Sachs, which owns a stake in the bank, to help it develop a range of consumer products.Like other Chinese banks, ICBC is attempting to move away from the previous unprofitable strategy of lending to state owned enterprises to start generating fees from consumer focussed projects.
ICBC chairman Jiang Jianqing said the bank will target credit card growth and wealth management among China’s growing middle class.
He said ICBC was China’s leading credit card issuer and that bank customers had spent 100 billion yuan on credit cards during 2006.
Jiang said the bank’s future lay in consumer banking.