Chinese financial services provider Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is seeking to extend its footprint internationally and has applied for insurance and banking operating licenses in the US and Russia, media reports have revealed.
Cited in the Financial Times, Jiang Jianqing, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s (ICBC) chairman, said: We have applied to regulatory authorities in the US, Russia and other places to set up operations. Global investors are all looking at the BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – and we are very interested in increasing our operations in these markets too.
According to Bloomberg, the move overseas is intended to remedy the bank’s drop in lending profits impacted by rising interest rates, which have also cut into the group’s net interest margins.
However, the bank may encounter difficulties expanding into American territory, as concerns have been raised that the bank does not meet the US regulatory standards, the Financial Times has reported.
The Financial Times also added that ICBC is not currently targeting the UK, but cited Mr Jiang as saying that its London operations have seen positive developments.