(25 September 2012 – China) The Chinese Government has urged its big four state-owned banks to grow bigger abroad and ramp-up overseas expansion to strengthen global competitiveness.China Banking Regulatory Commission vice chairman, Wang Zhaoxing, prodded the Big Four to boost their offshore assets and contribution to profits from overseas business to increase global competitiveness.
The Big Four banks consist of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China Construction Bank, Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China and they seem to be complying with Wang’s missive.
ICBC, China’s largest bank by assets, said its overseas assets at the end of June were up 34 percent from the end of 2011.
Bank of China, the third-largest bank by assets, said it wants to boost its contribution from overseas income to 30 percent of its total profits in three to five years.
China Construction Bank is the second-largest lender by assets, and is looking to spend as much as US$15 billion (A$14.3 billion) to acquire a bank in Europe, bank chairman Wang Hongzhang said.
Hongzhang noted that financial institutions in developed countries are expected to enter into a new round of global expansion after they emerge from current difficulties linked to the weak global economy. This will mean intensified competition to banks from emerging economies.