Outstanding contribution to global financial services:
Jiang Jianqing, chairman, ICBC
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How many bank leaders in the world can make the following claims: that they have run their institution for 15 years, generating an average annual growth rate in net profits of almost 30% and that net profit, which in 2014 stood at a staggering $44.53 billion, makes it the most profitable institution in the world; that they have built, from scratch, an overseas business, that would in its own right, based on profitability, be one of the top 100 banks in the world; and all of this at a bank that was virtually bankrupt when they became chairman.
The story of Jiang Jianqing is remarkable whichever way you look at it. He didn’t even become a banker until he was 30 years old. Before that, like almost every smart Chinese youth at the age of 17, he had to take part in labour education during the Cultural Revolution, working in the fields of Jianqxi province for six years, and three years in the coal mines of Henan. He graduated from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics in 1984, when he joined ICBC as a bank teller.
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Jiang recalls of that time: “I took this job just for a living at first. It took me many years to understand more about banking. I became addicted to this job while I got to know more about the industry. And it has become the lifetime job I have endeavoured to do since then.”
Jiang quickly rose up the ranks within the Chinese banking system: he was deputy head of ICBC Shanghai Branch, president of Shanghai Urban Cooperation Commercial Bank (now Bank of Shanghai), head of ICBC Shanghai Branch and senior executive vice-president of ICBC.
In February 2000, he took on the top role at ICBC, as the bank’s president and Communist Party chief. He then faced what he calls his biggest challenge: “When I took over at ICBC in 2000, the NPL ratio was 34.43% and the bank was technically nearly bankrupt. We needed to reduce NPLs to a healthy level. We utilized stricter loan rules, built up our IT systems and strengthened risk control to ensure the quality of new loans.” Today, ICBC’s NPL ratio is just 1.13%.
Another landmark was to restructure ICBC into a public holding bank and make it the first bank to be listed in both Hong Kong and Shanghai. At the time of its 2006 listing, ICBC held the record for the biggest IPO in history. The listing helped bring in new standards of corporate governance and a more private-sector drive to the business and its profitability. Jiang’s own title changed after the holding bank restructuring, becoming chairman of the board of directors, but his role at the helm of ICBC remained the same.
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I sometimes use the metaphor of running a bank to running Jiang Jianqing, ICBC |
For much of the intervening period, ICBC rode the crest of the wave of China’s remarkable economic growth. But Jiang remained determined to stick to his principles of running the bank based purely as a commercial concern when the Chinese authorities sought to stimulate economic growth through lending in 2009. It is for this, and the fact that he has not apparently sought to use his position at ICBC as a stepping stone to advancement within the Communist Party, that Jiang’s colleagues often refer to him pointedly as “a real banker”.
That said, Jiang is a regular travelling companion with the Chinese leadership on overseas trips, all the more so since China has begun to leverage its financial muscle into strengthening ties with the rest of the developing world. Jiang sees ICBC as one of the bridges between China and abroad in terms of trading, investment and information exchange.
The world is waiting to see how China’s huge banks interact with the global financial industry. ICBC is a clear leader in this field.
Before 2000, ICBC was a purely domestic bank in China. Jiang initiated its strategy of internationalization. Today, ICBC has a network of 338 overseas institutions covering 41 countries and regions, as well as another 20 African countries through its strategic equity participation in South Africa’s Standard Bank. No other Chinese bank can match this network. In 2014, ICBC’s international businesses realized a net profit of Rmb15.1 billion ($2.44 billion), up 35.6%.
ICBC’s foreign branches in Singapore, Luxembourg, Qatar, Canada and Thailand have obtained qualification as renminbi clearing banks, making ICBC the first Chinese financial institution that can clear RMB in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Between them, these branches have so far cumulatively cleared more than Rmb37 trillion.
Now in his 60s, some question how much longer Jiang will remain as chairman of ICBC. But his enthusiasm for the business remains undimmed: he shows little sign of wanting to take a step back.
“I sometimes use the metaphor of running a bank to running a marathon,” he says. “It requires passion and, more importantly, patience to achieve success. I hope ICBC will keep developing into a leading global bank with the best profitability, performance and prestige.”
Acceptance speech:
