ICBC

Is ICBC safe?

For a depositor in mainland China, yes. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world's largest bank by assets, reported a CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary of 13.21% at 30 June 2026 against a requirement of 9.0%. Deposits are insured up to RMB 500,000 per depositor. The Chinese state owns about two thirds of the bank through Central Huijin and the Ministry of Finance, and has rescued it before. We score it 76/100, two points below MUFG and four below HSBC. Penalties in New York, a ransomware attack on its US broker and thinner public disclosure than at Western banks hold it back, which is also why our confidence is medium rather than high.

How much China's deposit insurance covers

China introduced deposit insuranceDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary in May 2015. The scheme pays up to RMB 500,000 per depositor at each bank, including principal and interest, and unlike Japan's scheme it covers foreign currency deposits as well as renminbi. Interbank deposits and deposits by the bank's own senior executives are excluded.

What falls outside matters more for many ICBC customers:

• Wealth management products are not deposits. ICBC sells a lot of them at branches and in its app. They carry no deposit insurance.
• Funds, bonds and insurance products bought through ICBC are also outside the scheme.
• ICBC outside the mainland is a different entity. ICBC (Asia) in Hong Kong or ICBC's European banks are covered by the schemes of those places.

The limit is far smaller than FDIC cover at Bank of America, but the real backstop for a large saver is ICBC's status. It is one of the most systemically important banks in the world, and the Financial Stability Board will raise its capital surcharge from 1.5% to 2.0% in 2027.

Capital, ratings and the sovereign link

Measure	ICBC group
CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary (30 June 2026)	13.21%
CET1 requirement	9.0% (9.5% from 2027)
Leverage ratioLeverage ratioA bank's Tier 1 capital divided by its total exposures, without adjusting for risk. It is a simple backstop to risk-based capital rules.More in the glossary (30 June 2026)	7.20%
Liquidity coverage ratioLiquidity coverage ratioA bank's cash and easy-to-sell assets compared with the money that could flow out in a 30-day crisis. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary (31 March 2026)	135.86%
NPL ratio (30 June 2026)	1.29%
Ratings (Moody's / S&P)	A1 / A

The buffer is about four points, and the leverage ratio of 7.20% is high by global standards. The CET1 ratio fell by a third of a point in the first half of 2026 as lending grew faster than capital. ICBC's ratings match China's own: agencies treat it as an extension of the state, so its credit quality rises and falls with the sovereign. That is a strength while Beijing stands behind the big banks, and the main limit on a higher capital score.

Asset quality is the harder question. The reported non-performing loan ratio is 1.29%, but outside analysts have long questioned how fully Chinese banks recognise problem loans, especially those linked to property developers and local government financing vehicles. We have no independent figure to set against ICBC's own.

Funding and liquidity

ICBC is funded mostly by ordinary deposits. Customer deposits were RMB 39.17 trillion in June 2026, of which RMB 21.06 trillion came from households, and loans were RMB 31.99 trillion. Its liquidity coverage ratioLiquidity coverage ratioA bank's cash and easy-to-sell assets compared with the money that could flow out in a 30-day crisis. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary was 135.86% in March 2026 and its stable funding ratio about 126%. Chinese savers have few alternatives to the big state banks, which makes the deposit base unusually sticky.

Penalties and the 2023 ransomware attack

In January 2024 New York's Department of Financial Services fined ICBC and its New York branch $30 million over anti-money launderingAnti-money launderingThe rules and checks that stop criminals from moving illegal money through banks, payment firms and crypto exchanges.More in the glossary failures, and the Federal Reserve added a $2.4 million fine for unauthorised use and disclosure of confidential supervisory information. A Fed cease and desist order from 2018 stayed in force until November 2025. In China, branches of the big state banks are regularly fined by local regulators for customer identification and reporting breaches, usually in amounts that are small for a bank of this size.

On 8 November 2023, ransomware hit ICBC Financial Services, the bank's US broker-dealer. It could not settle some US Treasury and repo trades for clients, and the LockBit gang later claimed the attack. ICBC said its head office and New York branch were not affected. It was a failure at a subsidiary, not at the deposit-taking bank, but it showed gaps in how the group protects its overseas units.

Who should be careful

1. Keep deposits at ICBC within RMB 500,000 if you want them fully insured, and spread larger sums across other banks.
2. Do not confuse wealth management products with deposits. Ask whether a product is a deposit before you buy it.
3. If you bank with ICBC outside mainland China, check which entity holds your account and which scheme covers it.
4. Turn on the app's security features, such as device binding and transfer limits, and never share verification codes.

How we scored it

Liquidity (84) and deposit protectionDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary (84) are ICBC's strongest factors, thanks to a sticky household deposit base, deposit insurance that covers foreign currency and its importance to the state. Conduct (60) is the weakest, reflecting the US penalties, with digital security (66) close behind after the 2023 ransomware attack. Capital (78) is solid but tied to China's sovereign rating.