107-564: The People's Bank of China (officially PBC and unofficially PBOC ) is the central bank of the People's Republic of China . It is responsible for carrying out monetary policy as determined by the People's Bank Law and the Commercial Bank Law. The PBC was established in 1948 and became China's sole central bank after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. From 1969 to 1978,
214-520: A two-tier banking system . By rights of a contradiction within the economic functioning of the government of China, the People's Republic , the State Council of China , during September of 1983 made a decision to separate certain activities of the government to an exclusively operating organisation, subsequently named the Industrial and Commercial bank of China, established on 1 January 1984. ICBC
321-1083: A $ 13.6 billion (88.5 billion yuan) state-backed green fund in 2021. ICBC and Bank of China will finance environmentally friendly projects along the Yangtze River by investing 8 billion yuan each in the National Green Development Fund. ICBC Credit Suisse Asset Management is a major domestic subsidiary of ICBC in mainland China. International subsidiaries include ICBC (Asia) in Hong Kong , ICBC (Macau) , ICBC Standard Bank in London , ICBC (Europe) in Luxembourg , ICBC Turkey in Istanbul , ICBC Argentina in Buenos Aires , as well as other significant subsidiaries in Thailand, Pakistan, Switzerland, Canada, USA, and Mexico and
428-513: A China joint venture with Credit Suisse First Boston and COSCO , with the three partners respectively holding 55, 25, and 20 percent of the venture's equity. Subsequently, ICBC bought out COSCO's stake and acquired an additional 5 percent from Credit Suisse. As of 2006, ICBC had 2.5 million corporate customers and 150 million individual customers. In the runup to its planned initial public offering , on 28 April 2006, three "strategic investors" injected US$ 3.7 billion into ICBC: ICBC
535-621: A branch in Luxembourg in 1999, which became its European headquarters in 2011. In 2000, ICBC acquired the Union Bank of Hong Kong and renamed it ICBC (Asia) . A Hong Kong-listed entity, ICBC (Asia) then purchased the Hong Kong subsidiary of Fortis Bank , originally the Hong Kong branch of the Banque Belge pour l'Étranger , and rebranded it under its own name on 10 October 2005. In June 2005, ICBC established ICBC Credit Suisse Asset Management as
642-693: A branch in New York City. ICBC had signed a lease with the Trump Organization for office space in the Trump Tower in 2008. ICBC was Trump Tower's largest office tenant as of 2012. By October 2020, Donald Trump received $ 5.4 million from ICBC via the Trump Tower lease. In June 2009, ICBC spent 80.25 million Canadian dollars (US$ 58.53 million) to acquire a 70% stake in the Bank of East Asia (BEA). By
749-484: A central bank may include: Central banks implement a country's chosen monetary policy . At the most basic level, monetary policy involves establishing what form of currency the country may have, whether a fiat currency , gold-backed currency (disallowed for countries in the International Monetary Fund ), currency board or a currency union . When a country has its own national currency, this involves
856-540: A central banking role to banks that were effectively or even legally foreign. A seminal case was the Imperial Ottoman Bank established in 1863 as a French-British joint venture, and a particularly egregious one was the Paris-based National Bank of Haiti (est. 1881) which captured significant financial resources from the economically struggling albeit independent nation of Haiti . Other cases include
963-806: A common central bank. Examples include the Eastern Caribbean Currency Authority , the Central Bank of West African States , and the Bank of Central African States . The concept of supranational central banking took a globally significant dimension with the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union and the establishment of the European Central Bank (ECB) in 1998. In 2014, the ECB took an additional role of banking supervision as part of
1070-569: A crucial role in macroeconomic forecasting, which is essential for guiding monetary policy decisions, especially during times of economic turbulence. Central banks in most developed nations are usually set up to be institutionally independent from political interference, even though governments typically have governance rights over them, legislative bodies exercise scrutiny, and central banks frequently do show responsiveness to politics. Issues like central bank independence, central bank policies and rhetoric in central bank governors discourse or
1177-563: A currency union, or indirectly on a currency board. In the latter case, exemplified by the Bulgarian National Bank , Hong Kong and Latvia (until 2014), the local currency is backed at a fixed rate by the central bank's holdings of a foreign currency. Similar to commercial banks, central banks hold assets (government bonds, foreign exchange, gold, and other financial assets) and incur liabilities (currency outstanding). Central banks create money by issuing banknotes and loaning them to
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#17330861829211284-656: A fine of a maximum of $ 40 million to UK authorities. On 17 February 2016, the Spanish Guardia Civil supported by Europol , arrested six executives of the Spanish location of the bank accused of money-laundering , who were convicted in 2020 by the Audiencia Nacional . In 2018, the US Federal Reserve had found "serious deficiencies" of the bank on anti-money laundering protections. On 12 August 2021,
1391-532: A large number of US Treasury trades over the next day and forced others to reroute orders, upsetting normal operations. Lockbit ultimately claimed that the bank paid the ransom, a statement which Reuters was unable to verify. ICBC has the policy of preparing accounts conforming to the International Financial Reporting Standards , accepting specifically criteria IFRS 9 (pertains to the definition and rating of asset, liability, and
1498-514: A number of all of the existing purchasing contracts for non-financial purchases ) from 1 January 2018. and IFRS 16 (pertaining to lease ) from 1 January 2019. Financials in Renminbi In 2008, ICBC was the first Chinese bank to adopt the Equator Principles , an international set of social and environmental standards for financial institutions launched in 2003. It has also adopted
1605-499: A ratio between the gold reserves held by the Bank of England and the notes that the bank could issue. The Act also placed strict curbs on the issuance of notes by the country banks. The Bank of England took over a role of lender of last resort in the 1870s after criticism of its lacklustre response to the failure of Overend, Gurney and Company . The journalist Walter Bagehot wrote on the subject in Lombard Street: A Description of
1712-610: A response to a currency crisis in 1797, Thornton wrote in 1802 An Enquiry into the Nature and Effects of the Paper Credit of Great Britain , in which he argued that the increase in paper credit did not cause the crisis. The book also gives a detailed account of the British monetary system as well as a detailed examination of the ways in which the Bank of England should act to counteract fluctuations in
1819-602: A retail branch in Singapore . ICBC (Europe) S.A., based in Luxembourg, operates a network covering branches in major European cities, namely Paris, Amsterdam , Brussels, Milan , Madrid, Barcelona , Warsaw and Lisbon . President of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China As of 17 May 2020, the full board membership was: In 2005, the Chinese government arrested several government officials in addition to bankers with regards to
1926-624: A sub-provincial network of city-level and county-level sub-branches. That same year, the so-called credit plan, a key feature of China's former state planning process, was finally abandoned, allowing the PBC to play a genuine role as monetary policy authority. In 2003, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress approved an amendment law for strengthening the role of PBC in the making and implementation of monetary policy for safeguarding
2033-623: A transition from that single-tier banking system to a two-tier system, which was largely completed by 1984. In March 1979, as part of the Chinese economic reforms , the State Council split off state-owned banks from the PBC, first the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) and the Bank of China (BOC). The People's Construction Bank of China , which had been run separately under the Ministry of Finance,
2140-492: A unitary central bank. In the second half of the 20th century, the dismantling of colonial systems left some groups of countries using the same currency even though they had achieved national independence. In contrast to the unraveling of Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire after World War I , some of these countries decided to keep using a common currency, thus forming a monetary union , and to entrust its management to
2247-710: Is a Chinese state-owned multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Beijing, China . It is the largest of the " big four " banks in China, and the largest bank in the world by total assets. ICBC was created on 1 January 1984 from what were then the commercial banking operations of the People's Bank of China . ICBC is majority-owned by the Chinese government and has remained so after its landmark initial public offering in 2006. As of end-2021, ICBC shareholders included Central Huijin Investment (34.7 percent),
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#17330861829212354-459: Is a potential measure that could be applied by Central banks to achieve a low-carbon transition. Although there is a historical bias toward high-carbon companies, included in Central banks portfolios due to their high credit ratings, innovative approaches to quantitative easing could invert this trend to favor low-carbon assets. Considering the potential impact of central banks on climate change, it
2461-405: Is a rather recent phenomenon. At the start of the 20th century, approximately two-thirds of sovereign states did not have a central bank. Waves of central bank adoption occurred in the interwar period and in the aftermath of World War II. In the 20th century, central banks were often created with the intent to attract foreign capital, as bankers preferred to lend to countries with a central bank on
2568-533: Is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank , a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the monetary base . Many central banks also have supervisory or regulatory powers to ensure the stability of commercial banks in their jurisdiction, to prevent bank runs , and in some cases also to enforce policies on financial consumer protection and against bank fraud , money laundering , or terrorism financing . Central banks play
2675-676: Is classified as unintended unemployment. For example, structural unemployment is a form of unintended unemployment resulting from a mismatch between demand in the labour market and the skills and locations of the workers seeking employment. Macroeconomic policy generally aims to reduce unintended unemployment. Keynes labeled any jobs that would be created by a rise in wage-goods (i.e., a decrease in real-wages ) as involuntary unemployment : Economic growth can be enhanced by investment in capital , such as more or better machinery. A low interest rate implies that firms can borrow money to invest in their capital stock and pay less interest for it. Lowering
2782-546: Is important to consider the mandates of central banks. The mandate of a central bank can be narrow, meaning only a few objectives are given, limiting the ability of a central bank to include climate change in its policies. However, central bank mandates may not necessarily have to be modified to accommodate climate change-related activities. For example, the European Central Bank has incorporated carbon-emissions into its asset purchase criteria, despite its relatively narrow mandate that focuses on price stability. The functions of
2889-479: Is nominated by the premier of the State Council , who is then approved by the National People's Congress or its Standing Committee and appointed by the president .The deputy governors of the PBC are appointed to or removed from office by the premier. The PBC adopts the governor responsibility system under which the governor supervises the overall work of the PBC while the deputy governors provide assistance to
2996-440: Is not central banks' role to conduct climate policy. China is among the most advanced central banks when it comes to green monetary policy. It has given green bonds preferential status to lower their yield and uses window policy to direct green lending. The implications of potential stranded assets in the economy highlights one example of the embedded transition risk to climate change with potential cascade effects throughout
3103-782: Is now known as a central bank was often referred to as a bank of issue ( French : institut d'émission , German : Notenbank ). The reference to central banking in the current sense only became widespread in the early 20th century. Names of individual central banks include, with references to the date when the bank acquired its current name: In some cases, the local-language name is used in English-language practice, e.g. Sveriges Riksbank (est. 1668, current name in use since 1866), De Nederlandsche Bank (est. 1814), Deutsche Bundesbank (est. 1957), or Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (est. 1993). Some commercial banks have names suggestive of central banks, even if they are not: examples are
3210-550: Is the 25th-ranked of 26 ministerial-level departments of the State Council . The PBC lacks central bank independence and is required to implement the policies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under the direction of the party's Central Financial Commission . The PBC is led by a Governor assisted by several Deputy Governors and a CCP Committee Secretary . Since 2023, the roles of Governor and CCP Committee Secretary have been held jointly by Pan Gongsheng . The bank
3317-647: The 8th National People's Congress , and was granted a higher degree of autonomy than other State Council ministries by an act that year. In 1996 and 1996, the PBC established fundamental regulations on loans and consumer credit. In 1998, the PBC underwent a major restructuring. All provincial and local branches were abolished, and the PBC opened nine regional branches, whose boundaries did not correspond to local administrative boundaries. The nine branches were located in Chengdu , Guangzhou , Jinan , Nanjing , Shanghai , Shenyang , Tianjin , Wuhan , and Xi'an , complemented by
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3424-403: The Bank of China were either organized as divisions of the PBC or were non-deposit taking agencies. From 1952 to 1955 government shares were added to private banks to make state-private banks, until under the first Five Year plan from 1955 to 1959 the PBC had complete control of the private banks, making them branches of the PBC, closely resembling the vision of Vladimir Lenin . With aid from
3531-538: The Bank of Java (est. 1828 in Batavia ), Banque de l'Algérie (est. 1851 in Algiers ), or Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (est. 1865 in Hong Kong ), operated from the colony itself. Following the generalization of the transcontinental use of the electrical telegraph using submarine communications cable , however, new colonial banks were typically headquartered in the colonial metropolis; prominent examples included
3638-622: The Bank of Spain in 1782. The Russian Assignation Bank , established in 1769 by Catherine the Great , was an outlier from the general pattern of early national central banks in that it was directly owned by the Imperial Russian government, rather than private individual shareholders. In the nascent United States , Alexander Hamilton , as Secretary of the Treasury in the 1790s, set up the First Bank of
3745-569: The Belgium–Luxembourg Economic Union established in 1921, under which Luxembourg had no central bank, but that was managed by a national central bank (in that case the National Bank of Belgium ) rather than a supranational one. The present-day Common Monetary Area of Southern Africa has comparable features. Yet another pattern was set in countries where federated or otherwise sub-sovereign entities had wide policy autonomy that
3852-487: The Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949, China adopted a so-called monobank system in which all financial operations were operated by the People's Bank of China (PBC). In 1978-1979, the Chinese authorities initiated banking reform, whose effect was to transform the PBC into a proper central bank while specialized commercial banks were formed under its watch. This resulted in the gradual establishment of
3959-624: The Chinese Ministry of Finance (31.1 percent), the National Council for Social Security Fund (3.5 percent), adding up to 69.3 percent under the ultimate control of the Ministry of Finance. ICBC became the world's largest bank by total assets in 2012 (based on year-end balance sheet) and has kept this rank ever since. It was ranked first on the Forbes Global 2000 list of the world's top public companies in 2015. On 31 December 2022, it
4066-478: The Hungarian National Bank operated alongside three other major state-owned banks. For earlier periods, what institutions do or do not count as central banks is often not univocal. Correlatively, different scholars have held different views about the timeline of emergence of the first central banks. A widely held view in the second half of the 20th century has been that Stockholms Banco (est. 1657), as
4173-451: The National Bank of Czechoslovakia . Brazil established a central bank in 1945, which was a precursor to the Central Bank of Brazil created twenty years later. After gaining independence, numerous African and Asian countries also established central banks or monetary unions. The Reserve Bank of India , which had been established during British colonial rule as a private company, was nationalized in 1949 following India's independence. By
4280-571: The Soviet Union , the shares of private enterprises and with them industrial output followed a similar path, forming a Soviet-style planned economy . During the Cultural Revolution , the PBC suspended its commercial banking service. In June 1969, the State Council approved the consolidation of PBC's headquarters as a bureau within the Ministry of Finance . In that context, the PBC's head office
4387-550: The State Bank of India and Central Bank of India , National Bank of Greece , Banco do Brasil , National Bank of Pakistan , Bank of China , Bank of Cyprus , or Bank of Ireland , as well as Deutsche Bank . Some but not all of these institutions had assumed central banking roles in the past. The leading executive of a central bank is usually known as the Governor , President , or Chair . The widespread adoption of central banking
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4494-559: The United Kingdom and the United States respectively, Montagu Norman and Benjamin Strong , agreed on a definition of central banks that was both positive and normative . Since that time, central banks have been generally distinguishable from other financial institutions, except under Communism in so-called single-tier banking systems such as Hungary's between 1950 and 1987, where
4601-630: The financial system . In response, four broad types of interventions including methodology development, investor encouragement, financial regulation and policy toolkits have been adopted by or suggested for central banks. Achieving the 2°C threshold revolve in part around the development of climate-aligned financial regulations. A significant challenge lies in the lack of awareness among corporations and investors, driven by poor information flow and insufficient disclosure. To address this issue, regulators and central banks are promoting transparency, integrated reporting , and exposure specifications, with
4708-454: The renminbi . As of 2021, China has swap agreements with 40 countries. In 2010, the PBC issued administrative measures regarding online non-financial payment services . These measures retroactively recognized the legal status of online third-party payment platforms like Alipay . Prior to the 2010 measures, these services existed in a legal grey area. In 2015, the PBC hosted China's first formal deposit insurance scheme. In 2019, this scheme
4815-509: The 12th century, a network of professional banks emerged primarily in Southern Europe (including Southern France, with the Cahorsins ). Banks could use book money to create deposits for their customers. Thus, they had the possibility to issue, lend and transfer money autonomously without direct control from political authorities. The Taula de canvi de Barcelona , established in 1401, is
4922-613: The 19th century. The Bank of Finland was founded in 1812, soon after Finland had been taken over from Sweden by Russia to become a grand duchy . Simultaneously, a quasi-central banking role was played by a small group of powerful family-run banking networks, typified by the House of Rothschild , with branches in major cities across Europe, as well as Hottinguer in Switzerland and Oppenheim in Germany. The theory of central banking, even though
5029-672: The Credit Reference Centre to provide financial credit reporting. In 2008, the PBC lost the direct ownership stakes it had built up in much of China's financial sector as the ownership of Central Huijin was transferred to the China Investment Corporation (CIC), a newly created sovereign wealth fund . During the Great Recession , the PBC helped address bank liquidity crisis by signing swap agreements with numerous other countries to provide them with liquidity based on
5136-749: The Financial System (NGFS) to evaluate the way in which central banks can use their regulatory and monetary policy tools to support climate change mitigation . Today more than 70 central banks are part of the NGFS. In January 2020, the European Central Bank has announced it will consider climate considerations when reviewing its monetary policy framework. Proponents of "green monetary policy" are proposing that central banks include climate-related criteria in their collateral eligibility frameworks, when conducting asset purchases and also in their refinancing operations. But critics such as Jens Weidmann are arguing it
5243-583: The Green Credit Policy launched in 2007 by the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection. International environmental groups have criticized ICBC for failing to adhere to its social environmental standards and of being hypocritical, because ICBC is involved in the financing of the controversial Gilgel Gibe III Dam in Ethiopia. ICBC is among other state-owned banks to receive regulatory approval for
5350-625: The IPO), divided in US$ 16 ;billion in Hong Kong and US$ 5.9 billion in Shanghai. Following the global offering, the free float of shares was 22.14% of the market capitalization . At the end of its first day of trading, the bank's shares closed up almost 15% at HK$ 3.52 in Hong Kong, compared with the listing price of HK$ 3.07, which was set at the top of the indicative range due to the strong demand. According to Bloomberg , ICBC's market capitalisation at
5457-625: The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for more than $ 500 million. The transaction was completed on 1 February 2015, after which the London-based operation has been known as ICBC Standard Bank. In 2014, ICBC was the largest company in the world according to the Forbes Global 2000 list, with revenue reaching 148.7 billion USD and profit amounting to 42.7 billion USD. On 24 September 2014, ICBC Kuwait Branch officially opened in Kuwait City as
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#17330861829215564-406: The London-based Imperial Bank of Persia , established in 1885, and the Rome-based National Bank of Albania , established in 1925. The State Bank of Morocco was established in 1907 with international shareholding and headquarters functions distributed between Paris and Tangier , a half-decade before the country lost its independence. In other cases, there have been organized currency unions such as
5671-546: The Money Market , in which he advocated for the bank to officially become a lender of last resort during a credit crunch , sometimes referred to as "Bagehot's dictum". The 19th and early 20th centuries central banks in most of Europe and Japan developed under the international gold standard . Free banking or currency boards were common at the time. Problems with collapses of banks during downturns, however, led to wider support for central banks in those nations which did not as yet possess them, for example in Australia. In
5778-573: The PBC as of 2012: The PBC is active in promoting financial inclusion policy and a member of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion. The head office building of the PBC, on West Chang'an Avenue , was constructed in 1987–1990 on a design by a team of architects led by Zhou Ru. While its materials are modern, its shape refers to two traditional Chinese motifs, namely yuanbao ingots and "wealth vases" ( Chinese : Jùbǎopén ) from Chinese folklore. Central bank Heterodox A central bank , reserve bank , national bank , or monetary authority
5885-407: The PBC in the Caribbean Development Bank). The PBC Monetary Policy Committee is an advisory body chaired by the PBC governor. It typically includes the directors and deputy directors of other financial agencies, as well as a few influential academic economists. As of 2019, the PBC consisted of functional departments (bureaus) as below: The following enterprises and institutions were directly under
5992-610: The PBC is the most powerful position in the bank and can hold more sway than the governor. The current CCP committee secretary is Pan Gongsheng. The PBC has branches in each 31 provincial-level administrative divisions in China, branches in five cities (Shenzhen, Dalian, Ningbo, Qingdao, and Xiamen), and 317 branches in prefecture-level divisions . It has 6 overseas representative offices (PBC Representative Office for America, PBC Representative Office (London) for Europe, PBC Tokyo Representative Office, PBC Frankfurt Representative Office, PBC Representative Office for Africa, Liaison Office of
6099-399: The PBC reluctantly lost its direct authority over banking supervision with the creation of the China Banking Regulatory Commission . In 2005, the PBC elevated its branch in Shanghai to the status of "second head office", in a move intended to mirror the prominent market-facing role of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York within the US Federal Reserve System . In 2006, the PBC established
6206-432: The PBC was demoted to a bureau of the Ministry of Finance . The PBC was extensively reformed during the 1990s, when its provincial and local branches were abolished, instead opening nine regional branches. In 2023, these reforms were reversed as when the regional branches were abolished and the provincial branches restored, and new arrangements essentially ended the PBC's longstanding role in financial supervision . The PBC
6313-404: The Paris-based Banque de l'Indochine (est. 1875), Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale (est. 1901), and Banque de Madagascar (est. 1925). The Banque de l'Algérie's head office was relocated from Algiers to Paris in 1900. In some cases, independent countries which did not have a strong domestic base of capital accumulation and were critically reliant on foreign funding found advantage in granting
6420-401: The United States despite heavy opposition from Jeffersonian Republicans . Central banks were established in many European countries during the 19th century. Napoleon created the Banque de France in 1800, in order to stabilize and develop the French economy and to improve the financing of his wars. The Bank of France remained the most important Continental European central bank throughout
6527-435: The United States, the role of a central bank had been ended in the so-called Bank War of the 1830s by President Andrew Jackson . In 1913, the U.S. created the Federal Reserve System through the passing of The Federal Reserve Act . Following World War I , the Economic and Financial Organization (EFO) of the League of Nations , influenced by the ideas of Montagu Norman and other leading policymakers and economists of
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#17330861829216634-459: The abolition of the nine regional branches established in 1998, which had already seen their authority watered down by a change in 2004 that had returned authority to the PBC's branches at the provincial level and further changes in 2018. Additionally, the PBC's county-level branches were absorbed by city-level branches. The new branches were inaugurated on August 18, 2023. The oversight over financial holding companies and financial consumer protection
6741-439: The accusation of a scheme to take illegally US$ 900 million from ICBC. ICBC lent $ 400 million towards the completion of the Gibe III dam in Ethiopia. Groups that opposed the dam such as International Rivers and Survival International have complained about or have written to ICBC against the dam's funding. In November 2015, ICBC Standard Bank, an overseas subsidiary acquired in February of that year, agreed to pay
6848-421: The bank has ~1,000,000 individual customers, ~30,000 companies of all categories and more than 1600 corporate companies. During the 2013 Korean crisis , ICBC halted business with a North Korean bank accused by the United States of financing Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs. It was announced at the end of July 2013 that South Africa's Standard Bank was in talks to sell its markets business in London to
6955-422: The bank was subject to a ransomware attack, preventing certain trades from clearing. The attack was against the US unit of ICBC, which at the time was considered the world's largest lender by assets, as reported by Bloomberg . The bank was hacked by LockBit , a ransomware group. described by Bloomberg as "a criminal gang with ties to Russia." The attack against ICBC resulted in the bank being unable to clear
7062-497: The early 17th century in leading northwestern European commercial centers, namely the Bank of Amsterdam in 1609 and the Hamburger Bank in 1619. These institutions offered a public infrastructure for cashless international payments. They aimed to increase the efficiency of international trade and to safeguard monetary stability. These municipal public banks thus fulfilled comparable functions to modern central banks. The Swedish central bank, known since 1866 as Sveriges Riksbank ,
7169-422: The early 21st century, most of the world's countries had a national central bank set up as a public sector institution, albeit with widely varying degrees of independence. Before the near-generalized adoption of the model of national public-sector central banks, a number of economies relied on a central bank that was effectively or legally run from outside their territory. The first colonial central banks, such as
7276-489: The end of 2009, the number of credit cards issued exceeded 52 million, a 33% increase equivalent to nearly 13 million cards compared to the previous year. Including other types of bank cards, this bank has issued more than 280 million cards, becoming the 4th largest credit card issuer in the world. On 24 January 2011, ICBC opened a branch office in Madrid . On 20 May 2011, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. established two branches in Pakistan , one in Karachi and
7383-604: The end of 2015, up from $ 59 billion two years ago, according to regulatory filings. The figures are before netting agreements that can be used to reduce overall assets and liabilities. Almost all the repo financing that ICBC provides is on U.S. government bonds. On 18 November 2016, the bank obtained a license to take deposits in Russia . ICBC launched robo-advisor service to its wealth-management operations in 2017. As of April 2019, ICBC had lent US$ 100 billion for Belt and Road Initiative projects. In BRI-participating countries, ICBC has 124 branches. In November 2023,
7490-463: The end of trade based on its Hong Kong shares was US$ 156.3 billion, making its equity the world's fifth highest among banks, just behind JPMorgan Chase . Meanwhile, ICBC's Shanghai-listed A-shares recorded more modest gains and ended up 5.1% from the offering price of RMB 3.12. In July 2007, ICBC was ranked 30th in the world in terms of revenue. In August 2008, ICBC became the second Chinese bank since 1991 to gain US federal approval to establish
7597-451: The first and currently the only Chinese bank in Kuwait. Meanwhile, it is also the fourth branch of ICBC in the Middle East, following branches in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha. On 25 May 2015, the Company further strengthened its presence in the Middle East and Europe by purchasing Turkey's TekstilBank and forming its ICBC Turkey subsidiary. ICBC Financial Services, the bank's brokerage unit, provided about $ 88 billion of repo financing at
7704-575: The first example of municipal, mostly public banks which pioneered central banking on a limited scale. It was soon emulated by the Bank of Saint George in the Republic of Genoa , first established in 1407, and significantly later by the Banco del Giro in the Republic of Venice and by a network of institutions in Naples that later consolidated into Banco di Napoli . Notable municipal central banks were established in
7811-512: The foreign exchange market. Goals frequently cannot be separated from each other and often conflict. Costs must therefore be carefully weighed before policy implementation. In the aftermath of the Paris agreement on climate change , a debate is now underway on whether central banks should also pursue environmental goals as part of their activities. In 2017, eight central banks formed the Network for Greening
7918-515: The form of gold and silver coins . The mere issuance of paper currency or other types of financial money by a government is not the same as central banking. The difference is that government-issued financial money, as present e.g. in China during the Yuan dynasty in the form of paper currency, is typically not freely convertible and thus of inferior quality, occasionally leading to hyperinflation . From
8025-545: The global economy, the US Federal Reserve plays an outsized role in the international monetary market. Being the main supplier and rate adjusted for US dollars, the Federal Reserve implements a set of requirements to control inflation and unemployment in the US. Frictional unemployment is the time period between jobs when a worker is searching for, or transitioning from one job to another. Unemployment beyond frictional unemployment
8132-464: The goal of promoting long-term, low-carbon emission goals, rather than short-term financial objectives. These regulations aim to assess risk comprehensively, identifying carbon-intensive assets and increasing their capital requirements. This should result in high-carbon assets becoming less attractive while favoring low-carbon assets, which have historically been perceived as high-risk, and low volatility investment vehicles . Quantitative easing
8239-512: The gold standard. The use of money as a unit of account predates history. Government control of money is documented in the ancient Egyptian economy (2750–2150 BCE). The Egyptians measured the value of goods with a central unit called shat . Like many other currencies, the shat was linked to gold . The value of a shat in terms of goods was defined by government administrations. Other cultures in Asia Minor later materialized their currencies in
8346-447: The government in exchange for interest-bearing assets such as government bonds. When central banks decide to increase the money supply by an amount which is greater than the amount their national governments decide to borrow, the central banks may purchase private bonds or assets denominated in foreign currencies. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ( ICBC ; Chinese : 中国工商银行 )
8453-505: The governor to fulfill his or her responsibility. The current governor is Pan Gongsheng . Deputy governors of the management team include: Zhu Hexin , Zhang Qingsong , Xuan Changneng , Lu Lei , and Tao Ling . The PBC does not have central bank independence and is required to implement the policies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It operates under the direction of the CCP's Central Financial Commission . The CCP committee secretary of
8560-521: The highest quality. Under that definition, municipal banks of the late medieval and early modern periods, such as the Taula de canvi de Barcelona (est. 1401) or Bank of Amsterdam (est. 1609), issued central bank money and count as early central banks. There is no universal terminology for the name of a central bank. Early central banks were often the only or principal formal financial institution in their jurisdiction, and were consequently often named "bank of"
8667-409: The interest is therefore considered to encourage economic growth and is often used to alleviate times of low economic growth. On the other hand, raising the interest rate is often used in times of high economic growth as a contra-cyclical device to keep the economy from overheating and avoid market bubbles. Further goals of monetary policy are stability of interest rates, of the financial market, and of
8774-440: The issue of some form of standardized currency, which is essentially a form of promissory note : "money" under certain circumstances. Historically, this was often a promise to exchange the money for precious metals in some fixed amount. Now, when many currencies are fiat money , the "promise to pay" consists of the promise to accept that currency to pay for taxes. A central bank may use another country's currency either directly in
8881-485: The late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1990, the PBC moved into its new head office building, prominently located on West Chang'an Avenue . In 1991, vice governor Chen Yuan spearheaded the creation of the Electronic Interbank System (EIS), the PBC's first state-of-the-art financial market infrastructure . In 1992, however, the PBC had to reluctantly concede the spinning off of its securities regulatory duties to
8988-459: The name was not yet widely used, evolved in the 19th century. Henry Thornton , an opponent of the real bills doctrine , was a defender of the bullionist position and a significant figure in monetary theory. Thornton's process of monetary expansion anticipated the theories of Knut Wicksell regarding the "cumulative process which restates the Quantity Theory in a theoretically coherent form". As
9095-401: The newly established China Securities Regulatory Commission , whose first chair was former PBC vice governor Liu Hongru . The bank's profile was greatly raised by the appointment of Zhu Rongji as its Governor in 1993, simultaneously as his role as Vice Premier in charge of economic and financial affairs.. Its central bank status was legally confirmed on March 18, 1995, by the 3rd Plenum of
9202-437: The newly established policy of European banking union . The primary role of central banks is usually to maintain price stability, as defined as a specific level of inflation. Inflation is defined either as the devaluation of a currency or equivalently the rise of prices relative to a currency. Most central banks currently have an inflation target close to 2%. Since inflation lowers real wages , Keynesians view inflation as
9309-634: The original issuer of banknotes , counted as the oldest central bank, and that consequently its successor the Sveriges Riksbank was the oldest central bank in continuous operation, with the Bank of England as second-oldest and direct or indirect model for all subsequent central banks. That view has persisted in some early-21st-century publications. In more recent scholarship, however, the issuance of banknotes has often been viewed as just one of several techniques to provide central bank money , defined as financial money (in contrast to commodity money ) of
9416-631: The other in Islamabad . On 18 August 2011, ICBC passed the examination from State Bank of Pakistan and started its business in Pakistan. During November 2012, ICBC acquired from Standard Bank a 80% stake (valued at $ 600 million) of the former subsidiary of BankBoston in Argentina , which Standard Bank had purchased in 2006. This was the largest operation of a Chinese bank in Latin America. In Argentina,
9523-522: The overall financial stability and provision of financial services. That year, the long overdue restructuring of China's banking sector made major progress with the creation of Central Huijin Investment , a PBC-managed fund that allowed the PBC to take the lead from the Ministry of Finance on the restructuring process and from the CCP Central Organization Department on the appointment of senior bank executives. That same year, however,
9630-423: The premises of macroeconomic policies ( monetary and fiscal policy ) of the state are a focus of contention and criticism by some policymakers, researchers and specialized business, economics and finance media. The notion of central banks as a separate category from other banks has emerged gradually, and only fully coalesced in the 20th century. In the aftermath of World War I , leading central bankers of
9737-484: The relevant city's or country's name, e.g. the Bank of Amsterdam , Bank of Hamburg , Bank of England , or Wiener Stadtbank . Naming practices subsequently evolved as more central banks were established. The expression "central bank" itself only appeared in the early 19th century, but at that time it referred to the head office of a multi- branched bank, and was still used in that sense by Walter Bagehot in his seminal 1873 essay Lombard Street . During that era, what
9844-504: The sole authorized distributor of banknotes, or to function as a lender of last resort to banks suffering a liquidity crisis . In the early 18th century, a major experiment in national central banking failed in France with John Law 's Banque Royale in 1720–1721. Later in the century, France had other attempts with the Caisse d'Escompte first created in 1767, and King Charles III established
9951-401: The solution to involuntary unemployment. However, "unanticipated" inflation leads to lender losses as the real interest rate will be lower than expected. Thus, Keynesian monetary policy aims for a steady rate of inflation. Central banks as monetary authorities in representative states are intertwined through globalized financial markets. As a regulator of one of the most widespread currencies in
10058-726: The time, took an active role to promote the independence of central banks, a key component of the economic orthodoxy the EFO fostered at the Brussels Conference (1920) . The EFO thus directed the creation of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank in Austria , Hungarian National Bank , Bank of Danzig , and Bank of Greece , as well as comprehensive reforms of the Bulgarian National Bank and Bank of Estonia . Similar ideas were emulated in other newly independent European countries, e.g. for
10165-564: The value of the pound. In the United Kingdom until the mid-nineteenth century, commercial banks were able to issue their own banknotes, and notes issued by provincial banking companies were commonly in circulation. Many consider the origins of the central bank to lie with the passage of the Bank Charter Act 1844 . Under the 1844 Act, bullionism was institutionalized in Britain, creating
10272-477: Was also made autonomous (and later renamed China Construction Bank in 1986). In January 1984, the PBC's own commercial banking operations were spun off as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). In September 1983, the State Council had promulgated that the PBC would function exclusively as the central bank of China and no longer undertake commercial banking activities. Modernization efforts continued in
10379-400: Was also the first company to debut simultaneously on both the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges. ICBC raised at least US$ 14 billion in Hong Kong ( H-shares ) and another US$ 5.1 billion in Shanghai ( A-shares ). Due to heavy subscriptions, the greenshoe (i.e. over-allotment) placements were exercised and ICBC's take rose to US$ 21.9 billion (17% of ICBC's market value before
10486-490: Was also transferred from the PBC to the newly established National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA). Around 1,600 county-level branches of the PBC are planned to be absorbed to the NFRA; the PBC had 1,761 such branches at the end of 2021. The PBC is a cabinet -level executive department of the State Council . The top management of the PBC are composed of the governor and a certain number of deputy governors. The governor
10593-557: Was downsized to no more than eighty staff. Local PBC branches were correspondingly merged into local government finance departments. The institutional demotion of the PBC was reversed in March 1978 as it was separated from the Finance Ministry and granted ministerial ranking. By then and with the exception of special allocations for rural development, the monolithic PBC dominated all business transactions and credit. In 1979, China initiated
10700-510: Was echoed to varying degrees in the organization of the central bank itself. These included, for example, the Austro-Hungarian Bank from 1878 to 1918, the U.S. Federal Reserve in its first two decades, the Bank deutscher Länder between 1948 and 1957, or the National Bank of Yugoslavia between 1972 and 1993. Conversely, some countries that are politically organized as federations, such as today's Canada, Mexico, or Switzerland, rely on
10807-606: Was established on December 1, 1948, based on the consolidation of the Huabei Bank, the Beihai Bank and Northwestern Farmers' Bank. The headquarters was first located in Shijiazhuang , Hebei , and then moved to Beijing in 1949. Between 1950 and 1978 the PBC was the only bank in the People's Republic of China and was responsible for both central banking and commercial banking operations. All other banks within mainland China such as
10914-607: Was founded in Stockholm in 1664 from the remains of the failed Stockholms Banco and answered to the Riksdag of the Estates , Sweden's early modern parliament. One role of the Swedish central bank was lending money to the government. The establishment of the Bank of England was devised by Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax , following a 1691 proposal by William Paterson . A royal charter
11021-460: Was granted on 27 July 1694 through the passage of the Tonnage Act . The bank was given exclusive possession of the government's balances, and was the only limited-liability corporation allowed to issue banknotes . The early modern Bank of England, however, did not have all the functions of a today's central banks, e.g. to regulate the value of the national currency, to finance the government, to be
11128-500: Was reorganized as a subsidiary of the PBC, the Deposit Insurance Fund Management Company. Meanwhile, in 2017, the PBC was tasked with the secretariat of China's newly established Financial Stability and Development Committee chaired by Vice Premier Liu He . In 2020, the PBC initiated supervision of significant financial holding companies . The PBC underwent through another major restructuring in 2023, with
11235-497: Was simultaneously listed on both the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Shanghai Stock Exchange on 27 October 2006. It was the world's largest initial public offering at that time valued at US$ 21.9 billion, surpassing the previous record US$ 18.4 billion IPO by Japan's NTT DoCoMo in 1998. In 2010, Agricultural Bank of China broke ICBC's IPO record when it raised $ 22.1 billion. China's largest commercial bank
11342-698: Was the third-largest bank in the world by market capitalization at $ 211 billion. It is one of the most profitable companies in the world, ranking fourth according to Forbes in 2022. It has been designated a systemically important bank by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) since the start of the FSB's listing. Several former employees of ICBC have moved on to work in prominent government positions in China. Notable ICBC alumni include China Securities Regulatory Commission Chairman Yi Huiman and People's Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng . Following
11449-399: Was then the fourth of the four specialist banks of 1978–1979 to be made, from the taking of control of commercial activities ("industrial credit and savings business" ) from People's Bank of China so that the latter might be transformed to a newly made central bank. ICBC focused on the intermediation of deposits. ICBC opened its first overseas branch in Singapore in 1993. It opened
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