Agricultural Bank of China
Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), also known as AgBank, is one of the "Big Four" banks in the People's Republic of China. It was founded in 1951, and has its headquarters in Dongcheng District, Beijing.[3] It has branches throughout mainland China, Hong Kong, London, Tokyo, New York, Frankfurt, Sydney, Seoul, and Singapore.
Type | Public | ||||||
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ISIN | CNE100000RJ0 CNE100000Q43 | ||||||
Industry | Banking, financial services | ||||||
Founded | 1951 | ||||||
Headquarters | Beijing, China | ||||||
Key people | Zhao Huan (President) | ||||||
Products | Finance and insurance Consumer Banking Corporate Banking Investment banking Investment management Global Wealth Management Private equity Mortgages Credit cards | ||||||
Revenue | CN¥602.56 billion $87.6 billion (2018)[1][2] | ||||||
CN¥251.67 billion $36,6 billion (2018)[1] | |||||||
CN¥202.63 billion $29.5 billion (2018)[1] | |||||||
Total assets | CN¥22.609 trillion $3.286 trillion (2018)[1] | ||||||
Total equity | CN¥1.67 trillion $243 billion (2018)[1] | ||||||
Owner |
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Number of employees | 473,691 (2018)[1] | ||||||
Chinese name | |||||||
Simplified Chinese | 中国农业银行 | ||||||
Traditional Chinese | 中國農業銀行 | ||||||
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Alternative Chinese name | |||||||
Simplified Chinese | 农行 | ||||||
Traditional Chinese | 農行 | ||||||
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Website | abchina.com |
ABC has 320 million retail customers, 2.7 million corporate clients, and nearly 24,000 branches. It is China's third largest lender by assets. ABC went public in mid-2010, fetching the world's biggest ever initial public offering (IPO) at the time,[4] since overtaken by the Saudi Arabian state-run petroleum enterprise, Saudi Aramco.[5] In 2011, it ranked eighth among the Top 1000 World Banks,[6] by 2015, it ranked third in Forbes' 13th annual Global 2000 list[7] and in 2017 it ranked fifth.[8]
History
Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, ABC has been formed and abolished several times. In 1951, two banks of the Republic of China, Farmers Bank of China and Cooperation Bank, merged to form the Agricultural Cooperation Bank, which ABC regards as its ancestor. However, the bank was merged into People's Bank of China, the central bank in 1952. The first bank bearing the name Agricultural Bank of China was founded in 1955, but it was merged into the central bank in 1957. In 1963 the Chinese government formed another agricultural bank which was also merged into the central bank two years later. Today's Agricultural Bank of China was founded in February 1979. It was restructured to form a holding company called Agricultural Bank of China Limited.[9] It was listed on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges in July 2010.[10]
In April 2007, ABC was the victim of the largest bank theft in Chinese history. This occurred when two vault managers at the Handan branch of the bank in Hebei province embezzled almost 51 million yuan (US$7.5 million).[11]
In 2012, ABC started a project to migrate to the Avaloq Banking System.[12][13]
During the 2013 Korean crisis, the Agricultural Bank of China halted business with a North Korean bank accused by the United States of financing Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs.[14]
2010 initial public offering
ABC was the last of the "big four" banks in China to go public. In 2010, A shares and H shares of Agricultural Bank of China were listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange respectively. Each share was set to cost between 2.7RMB and 3.3RMB per share.[15] H shares were set to cost between HK$2.88 and HK$3.48 per share.[16] The final share price for the IPO launch was issued on July 7, 2010. On completion in August 2010 it became the world's biggest initial public offering (IPO) surpassing the one set by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in 2006 of US$21.9 billion.[17] This record has since been beaten by another Chinese company, Alibaba, in 2014.[18]
ABC raised US$19.21 billion in an IPO in Hong Kong and Shanghai on July 6, 2010, before overallotment options were exercised.[19] On August 13, 2010, ABC officially completed the world's largest initial public offering, raising a total of $22.1 billion after both Shanghai and Hong Kong's over-allotments were fully exercised.[20][21] The IPO was once thought to be able to raise US$30 billion, but weaker market sentiment dampened the value.[22] Despite a 15-month low for the Chinese benchmark index, the IPO was said to have gone smoothly.[23]
CICC, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley led the Hong Kong offering, with JPMorgan, Macquarie, Deutsche Bank and ABC's own securities unit also involved. CICC, Citic Securities, Galaxy and Guotai Junan Securities handled the Shanghai portion. ABC sold about 40% of the Shanghai offering to 27 strategic investors including China Life Insurance and China State Construction. They were subject to lock-up periods of 12–18 months. Eleven cornerstone investors were selected for its Hong Kong share offering, including Qatar Investment Authority and Kuwait Investment Authority, taking a combined $5.45 billion worth of shares.[24]
See also
- Asset management in China
- Banking in China
- List of companies of the People's Republic of China
References
Media related to Agricultural Bank of China at Wikimedia Commons
- "Annual Report 2018". Agricultural Bank of China Limited. 2019-04-26. Archived from the original on 2019-05-31. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
- "Financial Statements for Agricultural Bank of China Ltd - Google Finance".
- "Contact Us Archived 2014-02-26 at the Wayback Machine." Agricultural Bank of China. Retrieved on February 27, 2014. "Address:No.69, Jianguomen Nei Avenue, Dongcheng District, Beijing, P.R.China,100005"
- AgBank to pay $248mln in IPO fees, lowest of Big 4 Archived 2012-03-10 at the Wayback Machine, July 15, 2010
- Turak, Natasha (2019-12-11). "Saudi Aramco shares surge 10% as historic IPO begins trading". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
- "Top 1000 World Banks 2011 - The Banker". The Banker. Archived from the original on July 2, 2011. Retrieved June 6, 2011.
- "Forbes' 13th Annual Global 2000: The World's Biggest Public Companies". 6 May 2015. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-05-13. Retrieved 2018-05-12.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "Agricultural Bank of China becomes shareholding company". News.xinhuanet.com. 2009-01-16. Archived from the original on 2018-12-31. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- Agricultural Bank of China may offer shares to the public by 2010 Archived 2018-12-31 at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times, February 8, 2008.
- Suspects of China's largest bank theft go on trial Archived 2018-12-31 at the Wayback Machine, Lin Li, Xinhua News Agency, July 24, 2007
- "Avaloq group wins first customer from China - News – Avaloq". avaloq.com. Archived from the original on 2012-06-08. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
- "Customers – Avaloq". avaloq.ch. Archived from the original on 2012-07-09. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
- "More Chinese banks stop transactions with N.Korea - Mubasher". English.mubasher.info. 2013-05-11. Archived from the original on 2017-10-12. Retrieved 2013-05-18.
- "AgBank Shanghai IPO price tipped at 2.7–3.3 yuan". Marketwatch.com. 2010-06-23. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- 23 June 2010 (2010-06-23). "ABC sets H-share offer price range". Ifre.com. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- "China's AgBank sets record as world's largest IPO: report". AFP. 14 August 2010. Archived from the original on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
- "Alibaba IPO Biggest in History as Bankers Exercise 'Green Shoe' Option". The New York Times. 2013-09-18. Archived from the original on 2017-02-21. Retrieved 2017-03-13.
- Grocer, Stephen (6 July 2010). "AgBank's IPO: Emerging Markets Continue to Dominate Developed World". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 31 July 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
- "AgBank Finally Takes IPO Crown". The Wall Street Journal. 13 August 2010. Archived from the original on 31 May 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
- "AgBank IPO officially the world's biggest". Financial Times. 13 August 2010. Archived from the original on 17 August 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
- Wines, Michael (6 July 2010). "China Bank I.P.O. Raises $19 Billion". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
- Jun, Lou (15 Aug 2010). "Agricultural Bank of China Sets IPO Record as Size Raised to $22.1 Billion". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
- Lee, Yvonne (1 July 2010). "Small Investors Cool to AgBank IPO". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 14 January 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2017.