OREANDA-NEWS. October 16, 2014. Since the beginning of this year, ICBC has moved along with its internationalization strategy and leveraged the rare opportunities during globalization of China’s economy to realize consistent improvement in profitability, competitiveness and development quality in its overseas institutions.

As at the end of June, total assets of its overseas institutions reached USD 232.5 billion, up 11.1% or USD 23.3 billion from the beginning of 2014. The Bank's overseas institutions realized net profit of USD1.203 billion, up 41% year on year and substantially higher than its domestic institutions, becoming a key profit driver. Meanwhile, these overseas institutions have a good track record in risk control, with NPL ratio at 0.48%, placing them at world-leading levels, which has demonstrated the important role of internationalized operations in stabilizing profit and diversifying risks.

In the first half of the year, ICBC’s overseas institutional layout has continued to improve and mature, with its overseas expansion focus shifting from filling in market gaps to promoting localized operations and sustainable development. The Bank has pressed ahead with projects under construction and under approval, and strengthened integration of acquired entities and construction of tier-2 banking networks. During the first half of 2014, ICBC (Peru) and ICBC (New Zealand) were officially open for business; the Bank also signed an agreement to acquire a 60% equity interest in Standard Bank Plc. As at the end of June, ICBC's overseas institutions has amounted to 331, covering 40 countries and territories worldwide, indirectly extending its reach to 18 African countries by investing in Standard Bank, and forming a global service network spanning Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe, North America and Australia. As a key complement to its overseas business network, the Bank's correspondent banks network covered 146 countries and regions, with the total number of foreign correspondent banks hitting 1,767.

During its internationalization process, ICBC has, on the one hand, consistently served the globalization of the Chinese economy, further improved its global service network, and better aligned its overseas institutional layout with the trade and investment trend of China. On the other hand, the Bank has adhered to localized development, actively participated in local economic construction, promoted trade and investment activities between China and the invested countries. The Bank has implemented an "one institution, one policy" strategy for its overseas institutions, all of which have achieved relatively rapid growth. In the first half of the year, the net profit of ICBC from its operations in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Hong Kong and Macau), Europe, Americas and Africa accounted for 21.1%, 9%, 14.3% and 13.2% of its total overseas net profit respectively, showing a relatively balanced growth overall.