China's top banking regulator said on Tuesday that the application by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's biggest lender, had been approved. The plan to go public by ICBC "has been officially approved", Liu Mingkang, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission told a mid-year work conference of the body. 

Last month ICBC announced a net profit of 33.7 billion yuan (US$4.2 billion) for last year which was an increase of 12 percent over the previous 12 months.

The bank plans to submit its IPO application to the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) on Tuesday for listing on the Hong Kong stock market on October 27 with an offer price of 2.76 HK dollars reported the Shanghai-based China Business News on Tuesday. The paper said the bank was expected to be listed on both the mainland and Hong Kong stock markets

China anticipates its "big four" state banks -- the ICBC, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China -- once plagued by a mountain of bad debt will strengthen corporate governance and streamline operations with the help of foreign investors and public listings. The moves are part of efforts being made by the Chinese Government, the major stockholder in the "big four", to overhaul the banks before the opening of China's financial markets to foreign competition by the end of this year. This was a commitment China made on entering the World Trade Organisation.

"Foreign banks in China would enjoy national treatment and will be able to compete with Chinese banks on a full scale by December 11 of this year under the commitment," said Liu. He said the commission was, together with other government departments, revising the regulation of foreign banks so China would be able to carry out all of its obligations in the sector.

The Bank of China, the second biggest commercial bank on the mainland, has been listed on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock markets in the last two months following the listing of China Construction Bank in Hong Kong last October. Shares in the Bank of China made a strong debut in Shanghai on July 5 as the new number one 'blue chip' on China's stock markets replacing petrochemical giant Sinopec.

BOC's initial public offering was valued at a hefty 20 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion), the biggest-ever in China's market, and its equities totaling 253.8 billion shares dwarfed the 86.7 billion of the former front-runner Sinopec Corp.

Prior to that the bank raised the equivalent of US$11.2 billion in its initial public offering in Hong Kong on June 1 which was the world's fourth largest. The bank's net profits soared 31 percent last year over 2004 to 27.5 billion yuan.

The Central Huijin Company Ltd., a government investment group, held the lion's share of ICBC and Bank of China. It owned 67.5 percent of Bank of China shares before its trading debut.

The share sale marked another milestone in China's efforts to overhaul its banking sector which has long been considered a weak link in the country's booming economy as a result of decades of state-directed lending.

China set up four asset management companies in 1999 to dispose of 1.4 trillion yuan-worth of non-performing loans transferred from the "big four".

In the following years the government in turn poured a combined US$60 billion into ICBC, CCB and BOC in bailout packages to shore up their balance sheets. The three have either become shareholding companies or gone public after inviting foreigners to invest. 

(Xinhua News Agency July 19, 2006)