Under large chandeliers in London’s ornate Gibson Hall this month, China’s largest bank celebrated its $690m purchase of a 60 per cent stake in Standard Bank’s global markets unit.
The acquisition will help Industrial and Commercial Bank of China offer a full range of commodity services to its clients, some of China’s largest natural resources companies, as it moves to compete with the likes of Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.
ICBC’s purchase is the latest foray by a Chinese entity into London’s commodities market, seizing on an opportunity to service Chinese clients, which produce and consume the bulk of the world’s resources, as western banks withdraw from the sector.