ICBC Private Banking
Staff numbers at ICBC’s private bank have risen from just 100 in 2008, the year the bank secured the first onshore private banking licence in China, to 5,000 today, serving 76,000 high-net-worth individuals and more than 1,300 ultra-high net-worths, with cumulative assets of Rmb1.2 trillion ($175 billion). In the six months to end-June 2016, total client assets under management jumped 22%.
ICBC Private Banking has also become an industry flag bearer, improving its risk control systems, drawing on the strength of the bank’s core brand and working systematically to improve its corporate culture and governance levels.
It was the first commercial lender to open a full private banking branch in Shanghai’s Free Trade Zone. And it has expanded its repertoire, catering to family offices and offering expert advice, ranging from financial and legal issues, to tax and international education planning, to inheritance guidance.
ICBC Private Banking also offers a growing range of softer services, including wealth-education courses for second- and third-generation family members, organising fashion and arts events, and helping to source best-in-class health care provision in multiple markets.