The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China 中国工商银行 (Zhōngguó Gōngshāng Yínháng) was set up in 1984. The original tenant of this Art Deco styled building was the Commercial Bank 盐业银行 (Yányè Yínháng) which had been nationalized into the People's Bank of China in 1952. While it has classical Greek elements, the building as a whole has the strong modernist design of the thirties and forties. The red brick and ionic columns give it strong contrast and set off the clock tower nicely. The building was designed by Shen Liyuan 沈理源 (Shěn Lǐyuán) who also designed the Tianjin Commercial Bank building. (See the old photograph at the bottom of this page.)
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is one of the State owned banks in China. As modernization heated up, older banks were split to form specialist groups. ICBC took over many of the branches of the People's Bank of China and focused on promoting and nurturing industrial development through services and loans. In 2000, the Union Bank of Hong Kong became a member of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Group. The Union Bank of Hong Kong had only been set up in 1964, but had a large international customer base and experience in investment banking. With other acquisitions, ICBC has over 28,000 branches across China.
