On August 3, 2017, ICBC issued a notice that it had recently completed 2016 dividend payout for ordinary A-shares and H-shares. It has distributed dividends equivalent to around RMB 83.506 billion to ordinary shareholders whose names appeared on the share register on July 10, 2017. It has maintained top spot in the amount of annual cash dividends among A-share listed companies for ten consecutive years since going public in 2006. The dividends to ordinary A-shares stood at around RMB 63.17 billion in 2016, while the dividends to ordinary H-shares approximated RMB 20.336 billion. Dividend per share was RMB 0.2343 before tax.

An official with ICBC said that thanks to the sustained and healthy development of China's economy and the deepening of financial reform, the Bank has maintained a momentum of stable growth since listed. It has offered comprehensive financial support to the growth of real economy and the deepening of supply-side structural reform, and created good returns on investment for various investors including state-owned shareholders. Since listed in both Shanghai and Hong Kong on October 27, 2006, ICBC has stuck to a long-term stable cash dividend mechanism, and created cash dividend returns worth RMB 730 billion for ordinary shareholders. Since 2007, ICBC’s average annual cash dividend ratio has been at 38.6%, with cash dividends amount ranking the highest among A-share listed companies every year.

It is estimated that the Bank's dividend yield was 5.3% on the basis of the A-share price of ICBC at the end of 2016, which was significantly higher than the average yield of bank fixed deposits and bank wealth management products in the same period. In the H-share market, on the basis of the H-share price of ICBC at the end of 2016 and the RMB exchange rates against the Hong Kong dollar announced by the People's Bank of China, the Bank's dividend yield was 5.6%, representing a leading level in the market.