The Qatar Financial Center has approved the application of
China's largest lender, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
(ICBC), to set up a branch in Doha, Xinhua learned on Friday.
It was the first time that a Chinese bank had been allowed to
establish a business outlet in the Persian Gulf region, according
to ICBC.
Officials of the Chinese bank said that bilateral financial
collaboration had become more important because of closer economic
and trade ties.
The Doha branch will focus on wholesale commercial banking as
well as investment banking activities such as asset management,
investment consulting and trust services.
ICBC's relationship with Qatar began in 2006 when the Qatar
Investment Authority bought 206 million U.S. dollars worth of
shares in ICBC in the bank's initial public offering (IPO). The IPO
was at the time the world's largest.
China's improved banking supervision and ICBC's rising
competitiveness won recognition from Qatar and helped facilitate
this latest deal.
As the biggest lender in China, ICBC has been actively expanding
in the global financial market. Last year, ICBC bought a 20-percent
equity stake in South African Standard Bank Group for 5.46 billion
U.S. dollars and a 79.93 percent stake in Seng Heng Bank (SHB) in
Macao.
ICBC also established subsidiaries in Moscow, Jakarta and
Indonesia.
ICBC Chairman Jiang Jianqing said on Friday that the bank would
continue to rein in loans and limit annual growth to about 10
percent.
Analysts said that ICBC was accelerating efforts to shift from
traditional practice of reliance on deposit and loan rate margins
while building a sustainable profit model.
The bank sold 154.4 billion yuan (22.47 billion U.S. dollars)
worth of personal finance products in 2007, up 126.49 percent
year-on-year. Net profit rose 60 percent to more than 80 billion
yuan, Jiang said.
Last year, the bank had 127 percent growth in e-banking, which
could account for 42 percent of total business this year, five
percentage points higher than last year.
(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2008)
