Industrial and Commercial Bank of China

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. is a Chinese multinational banking company, and the largest bank in the world by total assets and by market capitalization. It is one of China's 'Big Four' state-owned commercial banks (the other three being the Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, and China Construction Bank). It was founded as a limited company on January 1, 1984. As of March 2014, it had assets of US$3.32 trillion. It is generally considered the largest bank in the world by assets it is the first Chinese bank to achieve such a feat. It ranks number 1 in The Banker's Top 1000 World Banks ranking and number 1 on Forbes Global 2000 list of the world's biggest public companies.

Basic figures
As of 2006, ICBC has 2.5 million corporate customers and 150 million individual customers. In 2005, net profit was up 12.4% to RMB 33.7 billion, and the total loan balance was RMB 3,289.5 billion. Total liabilities are RMB 6,196.2 billion, up 11.2%. Delinquent or non-performing loans (NPL) total RMB 154.4 billion, a significant reduction although the figures are widely regarded as being somewhat higher than officially stated. It has an NPL ratio of 4.69% and a capital adequacy ratio of 9.89%.
As of December 2, 2014, ICBC is ranked the largest bank in the world by assets and by tier 1 capital. In July 2007 it was ranked 30th in the world in terms of revenue.

Loans by industry
In millions of Chinese RMB (Yuan) in 2005:
Manufacturing: 662,376, 20.1% (28.7% in 2004)
Transportation, storage, postage & telecommunications: 367,371, 11.2% (10.2% in 2004)
Power, gas and water: 281,179, 8.6% (7.0% in 2004)
Retail and wholesale, catering: 265,906, 8.1% (6.9% in 2004)
Property development: 194,024, 5.9%, (5.6% in 2004)
Social service organization: 103,070, 3.1%, (3.2% in 2004)
Construction: 89,666, 2.7%, (2.1% in 2004)
Other industries: 313,804, 9.5%, (12.1% in 2004)
Discounted bills: 392,717, 11.9%, (8.4% in 2004)
Personal loans: 515,042, 15.7%, (13.1% in 2004)
Overseas business:104,398, 3.2%, (2.7% in 2004)
Total: 3,289,553

Loan collateral
Secured by mortgages: 34.1%
Secured by other collateral: 22.1%
Guaranteed loans: 23.3%
Unsecured loans: 20.5%

Non-performing loans
At the end of 2004, 19.1% of ICBC's portfolio consisted of non-performing loans. In order to clean up ICBC's balance sheet and prepare it for overseas listing, the Chinese government orchestrated a series of capital injections, asset transfers, and government-subsidised bad loan disposals that eventually cost more than US$162 billion. This included an approval for a cash injection of US$15 billion (financed from China's massive foreign exchange reserves) on 28 April 2005. The Beijing-based state company, China Huarong, helped ICBC dispose of its bad loans. As the 2005 annual report records, just under 5% of loans are classified as non-performing, in comparison with the majority of western banks who have lower NPL ratios (US commercial banks around 1%).

Environmental policy and record
In 2008 ICBC was the first Chinese Bank to adopt the Equator Principles, an international set of social and environmental standards for financial institutions launched in 2003. It has also adopted the Green Credit Policy launched in 2007 by the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection. International environmental groups have criticized ICBC for failing to adhere to its social environmental standards and of being hypocritical, because ICBC is involved in the financing of the controversial Gilgel Gibe III Dam in Ethiopia.