ICBC Becomes Fifth Big State-owned Bank to Obtain Approval for Wealth Management Subsidiary

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The world’s biggest bank in terms of assets has become the fifth major state-owned lender in China to obtain approval from Beijing for the launch of its own wealth management subsidiary.

On 17 February the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) announced via its official website that it had given approval on 15 February for Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to establish a fully invested wealth management subsidiary.

The approval makes ICBC the fifth big state-owned bank in China to obtain a green light from the banking regulator to establish an independent wealth management vehicle.

ICBC previously announced that it planned to invest no more than 16 billion yuan in the launch of ICBC Wealth Management Co., Ltd. (工银理财有限责任公司) as a tier-1 fully invested subsidiary.

Big state-owned lenders Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Bank of Communications plan to launch wealth management vehicles with registered capital of no more than 12 billion yuan, 10 billion yuan, 15 billion yuan and 8 billion yuan respectively.

An executive meeting of China’s State Council convened on 11 February said that it would support the wealth management subsidiaries of commercial banks investing in the capital supplementation bonds of banks.