🇨🇳 ICBC — Industrial and Commercial Bank of China

Lawyer, Family Office

About the bank

ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China) — the world's largest bank by total assets ($5.7 trillion+ as of 2024). One of four state-owned commercial banks in the PRC, the "Big Four", listed on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges. Has over 16,000 branches throughout China and 400+ overseas offices in 47 countries.

ICBC — primary lender for China's large corporate sector, handles a significant share of external trade settlement in the country. For foreign companies, historically a standard choice when opening corporate accounts in mainland China.

>🍓 External source: ICBC Global Information— official bank website for current product information and contacts.

Current status for HK companies

SinceOctober 2022ICBC stopped accepting applications for corporate account opening from HK companies whose UBO holds Russian citizenship. There was no formal public announcement — applications simply stopped progressing after the compliance review stage without stated reason. This policy remains in force as of 2026 and also covers Belarusian and in certain cases Kazakh beneficiaries without European or Middle Eastern residence permits.

Forother profiles(beneficiaries from EU, UK, UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong) ICBC formally opens accounts, but with two significant limitations:

Physical presenceof director or shareholder in Shanghai for 5–7 days during account opening. Video interview is not accepted.
Manual compliance reviewat pre-approval stage can take up to 60 business days with additional source of funds queries.

In private.law practice we stopped actively supporting ICBC account opening in 2024 due to unpredictable timelines and low open rate (~40% even for clean non-RU UBOs).

Forbeneficiaries from EU/Asia/UAEwithout RU/BY ties:🏛 Bank of China— same scale and reputation, but more predictable process and video interview instead of physical presence.

ForRussian and CIS beneficiarieswith confirmed residence permit:💼 ZCCB — Zhejiang Chouzhou Commercial Bank— one of the few mainland China banks continuing to service these profiles.

ForRussian beneficiaries without residence permit:🐻 Harbin Bank— regional bank specializing in cross-border RU ↔ China.

Fortrade finance:⚡ Everbright Bankor🌊 Bank of Dalian— joint-stock bank and regional channel with active trade finance program.

Our track record with ICBC

From 2021 to 2024 private.law processed 69 applications through ICBC (each HK company opened 3 currency accounts — USD/EUR/CNY). Of these:

42 accounts — approved and active (all non-RU UBOs with physical visit)
15 accounts — closed by the bank in first year of service after compliance policy change
12 accounts — rejected at compliance review stage (some of them — after passing video interview and pre-approval)

This track record shows that for our client base (significant portion with RU ties or complex international structures) ICBC ceased to be a viable channel.