Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world's largest lender by market capitalisation, is now the biggest by deposits as well.
The latest symbolic milestone underlines how Chinese banks have emerged relatively unscathed from the global crisis to become the largest and most profitable lenders in the world while western peers they used to try to emulate have been humbled. It also highlights the growing affluence of Chinese citizens, who have historically saved a large portion of their incomes rather than relying on credit.
ICBC's customer deposits reached Rmb8,900bn ($1,300bn) by the end of March after increasing by Rmb950bn from the start of the year, the bank said in a statement yesterday.
It overtook JPMorgan Chase, which had about $1,000bn in deposits at the end of last year, and Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, which held $1,290bn in deposits at the end of March, according to Bloomberg.
In the US, deposit growth is limited by rules preventing any single bank from controlling more than 10 per cent of the country's total deposits. Both JPMorgan and Bank of America are close to the cap following recent acquisitions.
Investors will get an updated picture of the deposit base of US banks as the first-quarter results season begins today with Goldman Sachs' earnings. Markets will question Goldman on its plans to raise capital to repay government aid and on the future of its investment banking business model.
JPMorgan and Citigroup report later this week, while BofA goes next week.
[via iciba.com]
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