Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC,
"ICBC will pursue a combined strategy of acquisitions and new projects in expanding overseas," Yang said yesterday at a finance conference in Beijing. "Overseas diversification is an important way for Chinese banks to spread risks against cyclical economic downturns."
Having raised US$22 billion in the world's largest share sale a year ago, ICBC, the world's biggest bank by market value, is expanding more aggressively than peers such as Bank of China Ltd (
"Overseas expansion is likely to continue as Chinese banks are seeking to build up their global presence," Bill Stacey, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Credit Suisse, said yesterday in a telephone interview, citing ICBC's forays in Indonesia and Macau.
Yang joined China Construction Bank Corp (中國建設銀行) deputy president Luo Zhefu (羅哲夫) in denying a newspaper report that their banks planned to acquire a stake in Standard Chartered Plc from Temasek Holdings Pte, the Singaporean government's investment company.
"We have no plans to buy a stake in Standard Chartered," Luo said at the Beijing conference, while Yang said the report was "just a rumor."
The Financial Times reported earlier that China's three largest banks -- ICBC, Construction Bank and Bank of China -- had approached Temasek about buying its 17 percent stake in the UK company.
The three Chinese banks had made "informal and discreet" contact with senior personnel at Temasek about the deal in recent months, the Financial Times said, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. Temasek rejected the proposal, the newspaper said.
The Singapore state-owned investment company owns 17.2 percent of Standard Chartered, the London-based bank said on Sept. 13. Temasek has declined to comment on the Financial Times report, calling it "market speculation."
Standard Chartered's London-traded shares have gained 15 percent this year, while the Hong Kong-traded stock has risen 17 percent, lagging behind the benchmark Hang Seng Index's 33 percent gain.
Chinese banks, flush with cash after raising US$63 billion selling stock in the past two years, are seeking takeover targets. ICBC's agreement to buy a stake in Standard Bank, Africa's largest, is the company's third acquisition outside China in less than a year.
In December last year, ICBC announced its first acquisition of a foreign bank, buying 90 percent of PT Bank Halim Indonesia for 90 billion rupiah (US$9.6 billion) with an option to purchase the remaining shares after three years.
Last Month, Bangkok Bank Pcl, Thailand's biggest lender, said it may sell its stake in ACL Bank Pcl to ICBC.
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Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
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