Agricultural Bank of China

The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), also known as AgBank, is a Chinese partially state-owned multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Beijing, China. It is one of the "big four" banks in China, and the second largest bank in the world by total assets, behind the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. ABC was founded on 10 July 1951, and has its headquarters in Dongcheng District, Beijing.^[4] It has branches throughout mainland China, Hong Kong, London, Tokyo, New York, Frankfurt, Sydney, Seoul, and Singapore.

Agricultural Bank of China

Headquarters in Beijing, China
Native name	中国农业银行
Company type	Public
Traded as	SSE: 601288 (A ordinary) SSE: 360001 (A preference 1) SSE: 360008 (A preference 2) SEHK: 1288 (H ordinary)
ISIN	CNE100000RJ0 CNE100000Q43
Industry	Financial services
Founded	10 July 1951; 73 years ago (1951-07-10)
Headquarters	Beijing, China
Key people	Zhao Huan (President)
Products	Consumer banking corporate banking investment banking insurance private banking private equity mortgage loans credit cards investment management wealth management asset management mutual funds exchange-traded funds index funds
Revenue	CN¥602.56 billion $153.9 billion (2020)[1][2]
Operating income	CN¥251.67 billion $36,6 billion (2018)[1]
Net income	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	Central Huijin (40.42%) Ministry of Finance (39.21%) National Social Security Fund (3.02%) China Securities Finance (1.92%)
Number of employees	467,631 (2020)[3]
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	中国农业银行
Traditional Chinese	中國農業銀行
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōngguó Nóngyè Yínháng
Alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	农行
Traditional Chinese	農行
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Nóngháng
Website	abchina.com/en/

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,^[5] since overtaken by the Saudi Arabian state-run petroleum enterprise, Saudi Aramco.^[6] In 2011, it ranked eighth among the Top 1000 World Banks,^[7] by 2015, it ranked third in Forbes' 13th annual Global 2000 list^[8] and in 2017 it ranked fifth.^[9] In 2023, Agricultural Bank of China was ranked #4 in Forbes' Global 2000 (World's Largest Public Companies).^[10] It is considered a systemically important bank by the Financial Stability Board.

History

Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, ABC has been formed and abolished several times. On 10 July 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. As the People's Bank of China began spinning off its commercial banking functions after 1978, ABC's focus on providing farmers with financial services increased.^[11]: 225

ABC was restructured to form a holding company called Agricultural Bank of China Limited.^[12] It was listed on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges in July 2010.^[13]

In 2012, ABC started a project to migrate to the Avaloq Banking System.^[14][15]

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.^[16]

In 2023, the asset management division of Agricultural Bank of China ABC WM together with BNP Paribas Asset Management launched an asset management joint venture. BNP Paribas ABC Wealth is majority owned by BNPP AM (51%), ABC Wealth Management holds 49%. Alexandre Werno became the CEO.^[17]

As of 2024, Agricultural Bank of China continues to operate in Russia despite international sanctions imposed following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While many Western financial institutions have withdrawn from the Russian market, Chinese banks, including AgBank, have expanded their operations and influence, quadrupling their credit commitments to Russian banks by March 2023.^[18] ABC together with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the Bank of China and the China Construction Bank increased their joint commitment to Russia by $2.2 billion within 14 months of the launch of the Russian attack on Ukraine, reaching 9.7 billion dollars.^[19] This financial support, largely conducted in yuan rather than dollars or euros, aligns with Beijing's broader strategy to promote its currency as an alternative to the U.S. dollar. Critics argue that such actions undermine international efforts to isolate Russia economically and indirectly enable its continued aggression against Ukraine.^[18][20][21]

Incidents

In April 2007, ABC was the victim of the largest bank theft in Chinese history. This occurred when two vault managers at a branch in Handan, Hebei embezzled almost 51 million yuan (US$7.5 million).^[22]

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.^[23] H shares were set to cost between HK$2.88 and HK$3.48 per share.^[24] The final share price for the IPO launch was issued on 7 July 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.^[25] This record has since been beaten by another Chinese company, Alibaba, in 2014.^[26]

ABC raised US$19.21 billion in an IPO in Hong Kong and Shanghai on 6 July 2010, before overallotment options were exercised.^[27] On 13 August 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.^[28][29] The IPO was once thought to be able to raise US$30 billion, but weaker market sentiment dampened the value.^[30] Despite a 15-month low for the Chinese benchmark index, the IPO was said to have gone smoothly.^[31]

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.^[32]

On Aug 01, 2024, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced MOUs worth $50 billion with six Chinese financial institutions, including the Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China.^[33]

List of governors

Name (English)	Name (Chinese)	Tenure begins	Tenure ends	Note
He Songting [zh]	何松亭	July 1951	May 1952
Qiao Peixin [zh]	乔培新	February 1955	August 1955
Li Shaoyu [zh]	李绍禹	August 1955	May 1957
Hu Jingyun [zh]	胡景沄	October 1963	November 1965
Fang Gao	方皋	June 1979	July 1981
Li Shaoyu [zh]	李绍禹	July 1981	April 1982
Han Lei [zh]	韩雷	April 1982	June 1985
Ma Yongwei	马永伟	July 1985	June 1994
Shi Jiliang [zh]	史纪良	July 1994	October 1997
He Linxiang [zh]	何林祥	October 1997	February 2000
Shang Fulin	尚福林	February 2000	December 2002
Yang Mingsheng [zh]	杨明生	September 2003	July 2007
Xiang Junbo	项俊波	July 2007	January 2009
Zhang Yun [zh]	张云	January 2009	December 2015
Zhao Huan [zh]	赵欢	January 2016	September 2018
Zhang Qingsong [zh]	张青松	November 2019	September 2022
Fu Wanjun [zh]	付万军	December 2022

See also

• Companies portal
• Banks portal

• Asset management in China
• Banking in China
  • Policy banks
  • List of banks in China
• List of companies of China

References

1. "Annual Report 2018". Agricultural Bank of China Limited. 26 April 2019. Archived from the original on 31 May 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
2. "Financial Statements for Agricultural Bank of China Ltd - Google Finance".
3. "Agricultural Bank of China at Fortune's website".
4. "Contact Us Archived 2014-02-26 at the Wayback Machine." Agricultural Bank of China. Retrieved on 27 February 2014. "Address:No.69, Jianguomen Nei Avenue, Dongcheng District, Beijing, P.R.China,100005"
5. AgBank to pay $248mln in IPO fees, lowest of Big 4 Archived 10 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, 15 July 2010
6. Turak, Natasha (11 December 2019). "Saudi Aramco shares surge 10% as historic IPO begins trading". CNBC. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
7. "Top 1000 World Banks 2011 - The Banker". The Banker. Archived from the original on 2 July 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
8. "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.
9. Gara, Antoine (May 2017). "The World's Largest Banks in 2017: The American Bull Market Strengthens". Forbes. Archived from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
10. "The Global 2000". Forbes. Archived from the original on 29 January 2024. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
11. Roach, Stephen S. (2022). Accidental Conflict: America, China, and the Clash of False Narratives. New Haven: Yale University Press. doi:10.12987/9780300269017. ISBN 978-0-300-26901-7. JSTOR j.ctv2z0vv2v. OCLC 1347023475.
12. "Agricultural Bank of China becomes shareholding company". News.xinhuanet.com. 16 January 2009. Archived from the original on 31 December 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
13. Agricultural Bank of China may offer shares to the public by 2010 Archived 31 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times, 8 February 2008.
14. "Avaloq group wins first customer from China - News – Avaloq". avaloq.com. Archived from the original on 8 June 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
15. "Customers – Avaloq". avaloq.ch. Archived from the original on 9 July 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
16. "More Chinese banks stop transactions with N.Korea - Mubasher". English.mubasher.info. 11 May 2013. Archived from the original on 12 October 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
17. "NP Paribas Asset Management partners with Agricultural Bank of China Group to form wealth management joint venture". BNP Paribas. Archived from the original on 29 January 2024. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
18. "China firms go 'underground' on Russia payments as banks pull back". CNBC. 29 April 2024. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
19. "Chinese banks are financing Russia with billions of dollars in its war in Ukraine". Telegrafi. 4 September 2023. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
20. "Former Kyrgyz prime minister Babanov linked to financing Russia's aggression against Ukraine". RBC-Ukraine. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
21. "Chinese banks extend billions in loans to Russia amid Western credit exodus". New Voice. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
22. Suspects of China's largest bank theft go on trial Archived 31 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Lin Li, Xinhua News Agency, 24 July 2007
23. "AgBank Shanghai IPO price tipped at 2.7–3.3 yuan". Marketwatch.com. 23 June 2010. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
24. "ABC sets H-share offer price range". Ifre.com. 23 June 2010. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
25. "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.
26. "Alibaba IPO Biggest in History as Bankers Exercise 'Green Shoe' Option". The New York Times. 18 September 2013. Archived from the original on 21 February 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
27. 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.
28. "AgBank Finally Takes IPO Crown". The Wall Street Journal. 13 August 2010. Archived from the original on 31 May 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
29. "AgBank IPO officially the world's biggest". Financial Times. 13 August 2010. Archived from the original on 17 August 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
30. 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.
31. Jun, Lou (15 August 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.
32. 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.
33. "Saudi wealth fund signs $50 bln of deals with Chinese financial firms". 1 August 2024.

External links

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