ICBC obtains approval for Argentine takeover

ARGENTINA has given approval for the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to take control of the local operations of South Africa's Standard Bank following a US$600 million deal last year.

ICBC, the world's biggest bank by market value, will take 80 percent of commercial lender Standard Bank Argentina and its two affiliates, asset manager Standard Investments and commercial service provider Inversora Diagnol.

Standard Bank will have its stake in all three firms reduced to 20 percent.

This makes ICBC the first Chinese lender to enter Latin America's third-largest economy, where Argentine President Cristina Fernandez ordered banks in July to lend nearly 15 billion pesos (US$3.1 billion) by year end to finance investment in production.

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