- published: 26 Jan 2011
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Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (ICBC) (simplified Chinese: 中国工商银行; traditional Chinese: 中國工商銀行; pinyin: Zhōngguó Gōngshāng Yínháng, more commonly just 工行 Gōngháng) is the largest bank in the world by profit and market capitalization. It is one 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 2010, it had assets of RMB 12.55 trillion (US$1.9 trillion), with over 18,000 outlets including 106 overseas branches and agents globally. In 2011, it ranked number 7 on Forbes Global 2000 list of worlds biggest public companies.
The bank's Hong Kong operations are listed under the name ICBC Asia. It has purchased the Hong Kong subsidiary of Fortis Bank and rebranded it under its own name on 10 October 2005.
In the runup to its planned initial public offering, on 28 April 2006, three "strategic investors" injected US$3.7 billion into ICBC :