Record-setting IPO

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SCOTT JAGOW: Everything about China is huge. The cities, the land, the economic growth. Today, a bank in China debuted as a public company. It’s the biggest IPO the world has ever seen. Shares of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shot up 17 percent in Hong Kong, 10 percent in Shanghai. From Beijing, Ruth Kirchner reports.

RUTH KIRCHNER: ICBC’s trading debut is perhaps the most significant step in the government’s efforts to transform the country’s state-run lenders into commercial banks.

Like other Chinese banks, ICBC has been undergoing major restructuring to get rid of mountains of bad debt, improve management and corporate governance.

But Michael Nock of Doric Capital in Hong Kong says all Chinese banks still have a long way to go.

MICHAEL NOCK: The big concern I have on the medium- to longer-term is can they really make that transition? Have they got the in-house expertise to really perform as a truly independent and private bank? I am not sure that we are there yet.

ICBC is the third of China’s big banks to go public. Its dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai is raising almost $22 billion.

In Beijing, I’m Ruth Kirchner for Marketplace.