ICBC and Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) said they received the Shanghai Stock Exchange's review opinion on 11 November finding that their applications to issue A shares to specific investors meet issuance, listing and disclosure requirements. ICBC plans to raise up to 100 billion yuan and ABC up to 160 billion yuan, and all proceeds, after issuance costs, will go to replenishing core tier-1 capital.
The issues still need registration with China's securities regulator before they can go ahead, and whether and when it will be granted is uncertain. When the plans were announced, Xinhua reported that the two banks would raise up to a combined 260 billion yuan, about US$38.4bn, through A-share issuances to designated investors.
WHO IS BUYING THE SHARES
ICBC is selling to the Ministry of Finance, which plans to subscribe for 70 billion yuan, to China Tobacco, with 10 billion yuan, and to four regional tobacco companies with 5 billion yuan each. ABC's buyers are the Ministry of Finance, China Tobacco and five of its subsidiaries, and a Korean press report said the ministry will take 130 billion yuan of ABC's offering.
Both banks said the investors have signed conditional share subscription agreements and will pay in cash. The issue price will in principle be no lower than the average A-share trading price over the 20 trading days before the first day of the issue period. The number of new shares is capped at 10% of ICBC's share capital before the issue and at 15% of ABC's.
Investors may not transfer the new shares for five years after acquiring them, and both banks said the issues will not change who controls them.
PART OF A WIDER STATE RECAPITALISATION
The plans date from 6 September, when eight central financial institutions including ICBC and ABC announced capital increases totalling 360 billion yuan, Sina's finance site reported. Of that, 300 billion yuan was to come from the Ministry of Finance through special treasury bonds and 60 billion yuan from China Tobacco and related subsidiaries taking part in the two banks' placements.
The 2026 government work report proposed issuing 300 billion yuan in special treasury bonds to help major state-owned commercial banks replenish capital, Xinhua reported. Core tier 1 capital is the highest-quality form of bank capital used to absorb losses, and a bank that raises more of it generally has more room to expand lending while maintaining regulatory capital ratios.
Regulators have been replenishing capital at all six of China's large state-owned banks, mainly to prepare them for the second phase of global total loss-absorbing capacity rules, according to the Korean report. The exchange accepted the two applications on 8 October, and on 14 October the banks published replies to its inquiry letters, saying administrative penalties and pending litigation and arbitration would not stand in the way of the issues.
RESULTS TO SEPTEMBER
ICBC's net profit attributable to shareholders for the first three quarters rose 5.83% year on year to 285.64 billion yuan. Its annualised net interest margin was 1.29% and its annualised weighted average return on equity 9.33%.
ABC's net profit attributable to shareholders rose 7.1% to 236.55 billion yuan over the same period. Its net interest margin was 1.28% and its annualised weighted average return on equity 10.68%.
THE TGB VIEW
ICBC and Agricultural Bank of China are the two largest banks in the TGB Bank Rankings, the Top 100 banks in the world 2026, with total assets of US$7,608.4bn and US$6,940.7bn at the end of 2025. Agricultural Bank of China is raising more, up to 160 billion yuan against 100 billion yuan, although it earned the higher return on equity of the two in the TGB table for 2025, 9.0% against ICBC's 8.7%. Both are among the six large state-owned commercial banks that held 221.6 trillion yuan, about 45% of China's banking assets, and the step to watch is registration with the securities regulator, whose timing is uncertain.
Related: ICBC, ABC and PICC disclose 1,358 penalties as 275 billion yuan placements clear inquiry
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