Is it possible for the largest lender in the world to be simply an international bank? With more than $1.9 trillion assets, and not be a global bank? Yes, it is. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China or ICBC has recently announced that they are just starting to make plans for becoming a genuine multinational bank. The transformation should take place within the next ten to twenty years. For many years, Chinese banks didn’t stand a chance in the domestic market. Aside from the popular Bank of China, they had very little exposure to overseas customers and clients. So how did they pull this off? What was their marketing strategy?
Learning the Elements of Marketing Strategy
The ICBC was the largest commercial bank in the country and the world’s largest bank in terms of market capitalization. But they felt that their limited global presence put them far behind other international banks in their category.
To put things into perspective, ICBC’s domestic business was double that of BOC’s in 2006. However, their overseas assets were less than three percent of their total assets. And much lower than BOC’s 25 percent. This put ICBC far below the international standards by as much as 50 percent.
Since that occurred, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China started mapping out its global footprint. They are making good use of their global capital markets. They accomplished this with mergers and acquisitions in other countries such as Latin America, Africa, Asia, and North America.
By 2012, based on their own statistics, the overseas assets for ICBC reached more than $32 billion which was far more than the $3.2 billion they acquired in 2000. Today there are around 6,000 ICBC employees who work outside of China with around 400 of those deployed directly from China and all others are employed locally.
How ICBC Became China’s Largest State-Owned Industry
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is now one of China’s largest state-owned entities. It sets a great example of how brands can grow from a leading national corporation and transform into a multinational one with the right tools and assets.
ICBC recently completed its first global expansion quickly and easily as it built up a strategic global presence through its global market. Now the company is moving forward into a new phase by managing global assets and merging with businesses with the idea of creating a genuine multi-national bank. This merger will bring forward new challenges and the need for modernized skill sets in marketing that will help ICBC continue on their road to success.
There are many different challenges Chinese banks face when they attempt to go global. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China faced many business and financial risks over the years. As a state-owned bank, they had the advantage of favorable soil for domestic growth. Throughout China’s financial reforms, the government injected capital into the bank and took care of any non-performing loans to help prepare ICBC for its IPO and restructuring. This paved the way for the bank to grow into a national financial leader.
How V12 Marketing Can Help Your Business Reach Global Heights
V12 Marketing offers strategic plans for all types of brands so that they may be successful in their field. We can provide a marketing strategy. Even if the road ahead may seem impossible and you feel like your business will never reach the heights you hope to achieve, the experts at V12 have the knowledge needed to help any business reach their marketing goals.
Whether your strategy needs just a few tweaks, or you need a completely new marketing outlook for your brand to grow, you can count on the team at V12 Marketing to help you get the job done right.
