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The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's biggest lender, is expected to list in Hong Kong in October, one month later than previously reported, Xinhua learned on Tuesday.

 

A market insider familiar with the ICBC listing plan, who asked not to be named, said the bank is not ready to submit its application to the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) until "the end of June or early July".

 

Earlier media reports said the HKEx would start scrutinizing the ICBC plan this week, enabling it to go public as early as September.

 

The bank has yet to release its annual business report of 2005,and its vice president Li Xiaopeng said it was accelerating the auditing for its first quarter financial statement "to meet the requirement for a public listing".

 

The Social Security Fund, China's national pension fund, signed an agreement with the ICBC on Monday, pledging to pour an investment of more than 18 billion yuan (US$2.25 billion) into the bank.

 

A foreign trio of Goldman Sachs, American Express and Allianz Group has already paid a combined US$3.78 billion for a 8.89 percent stake in the ICBC, the biggest-ever amount of foreign investment in China's banking industry.

 

China hopes its "big four" state banks -- the ICBC, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China --, once plagued by a mountain of bad debts, will strengthen corporate governance and streamline operations with the help of foreign investors and public listings.

 

Investors are also eager to buy Chinese bank shares to tap into the robust Chinese economy, which has grown about 10 percent in each of the past three years.

 

Construction Bank took the lead in the "big four" to list in Hong Kong last October.

 

ICBC is reportedly targeting another share offering on China's mainland by the end of this year.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 21, 2006)