Top 5 Largest Companies in China by Assets as of 2017

China’s economic  miracle may be slowing down, but China has doubled the size of its economy in the past two decades. Today, at $11 trillion in GDP, it’s the second largest economy after the U.S.

Two of the 10 world’s largest companies are located in China. Chinese companies represented six of the world’s top 25 companies on the Forbes Global 2000 list in 2017.

In fact, if you own Colossal China, an investment available on Stash, you own a very small fraction of some of the companies included in this ranking. 

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Here’s a list of the 10 largest Chinese companies based on Total Assets.

1. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd.

• Approximate Total Assets: $3,473.2 billions
• Employees: 461,769
• Headquarters: Beijing

ICBC is one of the Big Four state-owned banks in China and it’s the largest bank in the world by total assets (over $3.6 trillion as of 2015, the most recent year such figures are available). The bank serves over 340 million personal and commercial customers worldwide. Jian Jiang, the bank’s CEO since 2000, recently announced plans to retire soon. The fallout from that decision could be significant, as no obvious successor is in place.

2. China Construction Bank Corp.

• Approximate Assets: $3016.6 billion
• Employees: 362,482
• Headquarters: Beijing

This is the second of China’s Big Four banks, founded in 1954 as the People’s Construction Bank of China. Bank of America at one point had more than 10% stake in the bank. However, in 2013, Bank of America liquidated its position. The company’s CEO, You Guo, has been at the helm since 2014.

3. Agricultural Bank of China Ltd.

• Approximate Assets: $2816 billion
• Employees: 496,698
• Headquarters: Beijing

Another of China’s Big Four, the Agricultural Bank of China went public in 2010, representing the world’s largest IPO at the time, raising some $22 billion. ABC was liquidated and reformed several times in the 1950s before assuming its current shape in 1979. The company has some 323 million retail and corporate clients and operates 24,000 branches located in China, Tokyo, London, Seoul, Sydney, Frankfurt, New York, and Singapore.

4. Bank of China Ltd.

• Approximate Assets: $2611.5 billion
• Employees: 308,900
• Headquarters: Beijing

The final Big Four Chinese bank, Bank of China is the oldest Chinese bank, created to replace the Imperial Bank in 1912. Bank of China has the largest global presence of the four major Chinese banks, operating in 27 countries, although operations outside of mainland China only account for about 4% of the bank’s assets and profits.

5. Bank of Communications Co. Ltd.

• Approximate Assets: $1209.2 billion
• Employees: 92,556
• Headquarters: Shanghai

The Bank of Communications was founded in 1908 and is reportedly the first bank to print paper currency in modern China.The Bank of Communications was originally formed to finance the purchase of the Beijing-Hankou Railway from Belgium, and the word “communications” in its name refers to the railway link.