ICBC completes purchase of 80% stake in Bank of East Asia’s US subsidiary

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
(ICBC) has completed its purchase of an 80% stake in the Hong
Kong-headquartered Bank of East Asia’s US subsidiary and acquired a
total of 13 branches in New York and California.

With the finalisation of the deal, ICBC has
gained the license to conduct retail banking in the US and expanded
its network in the country, ICBC Chairman Jiang Jianqing said.

The $140m deal was signed in January 2011 and approved by the
US Federal Reserve Board in May.

ICBC already owns 70% of Bank of East Asia’s
Canadian subsidiary, which has six branches.

Jianqing added that ICBC will further localise
its operations and “strengthen cooperation with US financial
institutions to better serve US clients and Sino-US economic and
trade activities”.  

This will not be the first attempt by a
Chinese bank to acquire a US-based lender.

In 2008, China Minsheng Banking Corporation
(Minsheng) made a bid to increase its 9.9% stake in United
Commercial Bank (UCB), based in California, to become a majority
shareholder, but US regulators rejected the deal.

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