Earlier, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services (S&P) officially announced the new credit rating to ICBC. As for the Issuer Credit Rating, Foreign Long Term on ICBC was raised to "A" from "A-", Foreign Short Term was upgraded to "A-1" from "A-2". The Review Type was "Outlook Stable". S&P also raised the Bank Fundamental Strength Rating on ICBC to "C+" from "C". As related, among the banks in China, S&P upgraded all credit ratings only on ICBC this time. ICBC has the highest credit rating among the domestic commercial banks after this upgrade by S&P.

Standard & Poor's said, the upgrade mainly reflected the consistent improvement in ICBC's profitability, accurate business strategy and clarified capital management policy. ICBC is expected to maintain adequate financial metrics. S&P stated that, for the past few years ICBC has been transforming its business model through gradual diversification and calculated growth. For example, the bank has shifted its loan mix to top consumers and increased its revenue shares from fees and commissions while increasing its presence in emerging markets and key financial centers globally. This strategy has contributed to ICBC's steady improvement on management level and financial performance in view of the bank's slower loan growth than industry average.

Standard & Poor's also stressed that ICBC has structural strengths relative to its competitors, such as a highly integrated operational platform, low funding costs and superior operational efficiency. This takes into consideration the bank's structural strengths, its disciplined and balanced loan growth, and its adequate risk management. Over the next few years, ICBC's profitability and loan quality are likely to be more stable than those of its domestic peers.

Moody's raised the bank financial strength ratings on ICBC in June this year. Industry insiders commented that the upgrade of credit rating on ICBC by S&P this time reaffirmed the recognition from international credit rating agency on ICBC, and its performance in recent years of reform and progress from the international community and market. Meanwhile, the upgrade will significantly boost the capacity of ICBC to better compete in international market. ICBC's overseas subsidiaries and branches can reduce their bond offering cost and drive profitability growth due to the upgrade in short term ratings.