sniff and sneeze 14
Aug 25th, 2008 by ellen
Sniff:
- Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) becomes the newest most profitable bank of the world (source: bloomberg.com) Last year, the champion was Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC). Below is a list of the top ten largest banks by market capitalization (rank, bank name, country, market cap in billion dollars):
- 1. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China, 248
- 2. Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), Great Britain, 189.9
- 3. China Construction Bank, China, 188.5
- 4. Bank of China, China, 143.6
- 5. JP Moragn Chase, USA, 128.2
- 6. Banco Santander, Spain, 115.3
- 7. Bank of Amerika , USA, 115.2
- 8. Citigroup, USA, 100.6
- 9. Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan, 99.6
- 10. BNP Paribas, France, 84.4
(Source)
- Jim Rogers keeps bullish on China. (Source: Money Morning) Although I share Jim’s opinion on China’s future and I’m building long positions in Chinese equities too, I’m not brave enough to buy China Airline’s stocks. My “watch closely” list: China Mobile, China Life, China Merchant Bank, China Water Affairs.
Sneeze:
It is said that the China Development Bank (CDB) was trying to acquire Dresdner Bank (a German Bank). IMHO, this deal is not worthwhile for CDB. I don’t know how bad a financial trouble the Dresdner Bank is in, anyway the book value is attractive right now. I say it’s not worthwhile because right now the mainstream German media is extremely hostile to anything that is related to China (I say the mainstream media here. There are neutral and fair reports from small TV senders and elite-oriented magazines such as National Geographic Germany, but those fair documentations about China are not that popular in Germany). Mainstream German media keeps shamelessly maligning China in every way they can. They endlessly condemn the Chinese government in a self-righteous, arrogant attitude. In their reports and programs, China is a hopeless country and the Chinese people are the most miserable people in the world. They always compare China to DDR, they always compare the 2008 Beijing Olympic to the 1936 Berlin Olympic (which I think is a serious insult to all of the 1.3 billion Chinese people). This has become very, very disgusting. Most German people have not been to China themselves, they have not seen the truth with their own eyes. They could be easily deceived by the mainstream massmedia here. As long as the uneducated, unenlightened mainstream massmedia here does not start to learn ABC of politeness and respect, Chinese banks should avoid the German financial market at all. Just leave the so-called moralists alone. CDB holds 3% shares in Barclay. Not a bad option to add more.
