Chinese banks own up on sub-prime exposure

After all, here were three big institutions, still majority owned by Beijing, that had to be bailed out just three years ago using $60 billion of the nation’s capital. Yet here they were baring their souls to the world – and being more forthright about sub-prime than many of the global investment banks that advised them on their record-breaking Hong Kong equity offerings.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China came first. The world’s largest lender by market value said it was sitting on $1.23