text: ICBC opened its first overseas branch in Singapore in 1993. It opened 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 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.
  Initial public offering
  In the runup to its planned initial public offering, on 28 April 2006, three "strategic investors" injected US$3.7 billion into ICBC:
  Goldman Sachs purchased a 5.75% stake for US$2.6 billion, the largest sum Goldman Sachs has ever invested.
  Dresdner Bank invested US$1 billion.
  American Express invested US$200 million.
  ICBC 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 was also the first company to debut simultaneously on both the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges.