Federal Reserve approves expansion of 3 Chinese banks in US

May 09, 2012

Federal Reserve approves expansion of 3 Chinese banks in US

Dow Jones Newswires

WASHINGTON –  The Federal Reserve said Wednesday it approved the expansion of the U.S. operations of three of China’s largest banks, including the first acquisition of a U.S. bank by a Chinese bank.

The Fed said it had approved applications from the Bank of China Ltd. and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. to establish new branches. The central bank also approved an application by China’s largest bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd., to become a bank holding company through its acquisition of The Bank of East Asia.

The five Fed board members voted unanimously in favor of each of the applications, which come from the first, third and fourth largest banks in China. All of the banks are at least 70% owned by the Chinese government and had at least $1.85 trillion in assets at the end of last year.

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Bank of China Limited is one of the big four state-owned commercial banks of the People’s Republic of China. It was founded in 1912 by the Government of the Republic of China, to replace the Government Bank of Imperial China. It is the oldest bank in China.

Bank of China New York branch began offering RMB products for Americans.

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The predecessor of Agricultural Bank of China is Agricultural Cooperative Bank established in 1951. Since late 1970s, the Bank has evolved from a state-owned specialized bank to a wholly state-owned commercial bank and subsequently a state-controlled commercial bank. On January 15, 2009, the Bank was restructured into a joint stock limited liability company. ABC launched its IPO on April, 2010. On 15 and 16 July 2010, the Bank was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange respectively, which marked the completion of our historical transformation into a public shareholding commercial bank.

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Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (ICBC) is the largest bank in the world by profit and market capitalization. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was founded as a limited company on January 1, 1984.