1. Revenue and profit
From a pure perspective of revenue and profit, ICBC is currently the bank with the largest revenue and profit in the world. Let's take 2020 data as an example. In 2020, ICBC's revenue was 882.6 billion yuan and its net profit was 317.685 billion yuan.
The revenue of ICBC may not be comparable to that of PetroChina, Sinopec, and State Grid, but its profits far exceed those of these large central enterprises, and are slightly worse than China Tobacco. In addition, among the Fortune 500 in 2021, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ranks 20th, and is also the highest-ranking bank in the world. If viewed purely from a profit perspective, ICBC's profits can rank fourth among the Fortune 500, second only to Apple, Saudi Aramco and Japan's SoftBank. 2. Asset scale.
As of the third quarter of 2021, ICBC’s assets have reached 35.4 trillion, which should be one of the banks with the largest assets in the world. 3. Core tier one capital.
Core Tier 1 capital is not only a reflection of a bank’s strength, but also an important indicator of its ability to resist risks. At present, ICBC’s net core Tier 1 capital is 2.8 trillion, its net Tier 1 capital is 3.13 trillion, its core Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio is 13.14%, and its Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio is 14.68%. Among the world's top 1000 banks released by The Banker in 2021, ICBC ranks first in the world with tier 1 capital of US$440 billion. 4. Customer deposit balance.
Deposits are an important basis for the survival of banks, because most banks in my country currently rely on interest rate differentials to survive. The contribution rate of interest rate spreads to bank profits is at least 60%, so the more deposits, the stronger the bank will be. The stronger, the stronger the profitability. As of the end of the third quarter of 2021, ICBC's customer deposit balance was 26.84 trillion, ranking first in the country. 5. Loan balance.
Loans and deposits are twin brothers. Deposits alone are not enough. You have to convert deposits into loans to get a spread. As of the end of the third quarter of 2021, ICBC's customer loan balance was 20.42 trillion, ranking first in the country. 6. User scale.
As of the first half of 2021, ICBC has 9.2 million corporate customers and 690 million personal customers. The number of users can at least rank among the top 2 in the world. 7. Staff size.
As of the first half of 2021, the number of employees of ICBC has reached 430,000. The number of employees is second only to Agricultural Bank of China and is the bank with the second largest number of employees among all banks in the world. 8. Outlet size.
As of the first half of 2021, ICBC has a total of 15,823 business outlets, 24,689 self-service banks, 79,034 smart devices, and 70,799 ATMs. The number of business outlets is second only to the Postal Savings Bank.
Through these simple data, everyone will know why ICBC is called the Bank of the Universe, because in every aspect, ICBC is large enough.
Of course, the reason why ICBC is so good does not mean that its competitiveness is very strong. In fact, from the perspective of competitiveness, I personally think that ICBC is better than some domestic joint-stock banks, such as China Merchants Bank. Banks really can't compare.
There is a certain gap compared with international JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, HSBC, etc.
The reason why ICBC is so good at the moment is that it actually relies on its huge network of outlets and huge user base. To put it bluntly, it relies on my country’s economic and demographic dividends to accumulate strength.
If on a certain day more than 50% of ICBC's profits come from international business, and the contribution rate of interest spreads to profits is less than 40%, I think that would be a real success story.