ABC's Top Banker Trains an Elephant to Dance

(Shanghai) – It took Agricultural Bank of China executives three years to complete internal reforms, restructure the state-owned giant and launch an initial public offering.

ABC Chairman Xiang Junbo, for whom the arduous process climaxed in July with a dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai, notes that certain animal trainers need similar patience.

"Making elephants dance," Xiang said with a smile, "is really not easy."

Xiang's wit and Sichuan humor accented a nearly two-hour interview with Caixin about the rise of ABC and its historic IPO, the world's largest. He spoke on the evening of July 14 in a Shanghai hotel just hours before ringing the morning bell at the Shanghai Stock Exchange to begin the bank stock's first trading day.

The following day, Xiang did it again by ceremonially opening the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as ABC's H shares hit the trading floor.

ABC was China's last, major state-owned bank to go public. Its restructuring began in 2008, but the global financial crisis delayed IPO plans. Moreover, the bank has been embroiled in scandals over the years and once led the nation's banking giants in bad assets.

Xiang throttled a reform train. He typically spent Mondays through Thursdays at the bank's headquarters in Beijing, then traveled to far-flung bank outposts across the country for field inspections Friday through Sunday.

By April, the smoke finally had cleared and ABC started preparing for the Shanghai and Hong Kong markets.

Xiang spent three, grueling years on the ABC overhaul. "This is the hardest work I've ever done," he admitted during the interview.

But the payoff was huge: The dual listing raised about US$ 19.2 billion amid a general slump for global capital markets.