ICBC says to keep purse strings tight, eyes abroad

BOAO, China, April 12 (Reuters) - Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (1398.HK: Quote, Profile, Research)(601398.SS: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Saturday that it is super-cautious when choosing acquisition targets abroad because it knows it is a new hand in the global financial market.

A number of Chinese banks, insurers and government agencies have bought into global financial institutions hit by the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis.

"But we are extremely cautious every single step along the way when going abroad, especially under the current circumstances, as we know we are newcomers to the sophisticated global financial market," said Jiang Jianqing, chairman of ICBC, the world's largest bank by capitalisation.

"To be honest, we are keeping our purse strings very tight and when choosing where to swim, we often start from places with shallower water," he told a session of the Boao Forum for Asia being held on the southern Chinese island of Hainan.

Jiang told Reuters that it was still in talks with Bangkok Bank BBL.BK, Thailand's biggest lender, about a possible stake sale in ACL Bank ACL.BK.

ICBC has been interested in buying a 30.6 percent stake in ACL from the Thai Finance Ministry, ACL's biggest shareholder, and Bangkok Bank since late 2007.

The lack of news on progress sparked market concerns that the deal might have failed.

Jiang said his bank was more interested in emerging markets when expanding abroad because the region has more robust growth and is not affected much by the credit crisis.

Also, ICBC's clients are mainly expanding their businesses in emerging markets and banks in the region have more similar corporate culture and management concepts to Chinese lenders, he added. (Reporting by Eadie Chen; Editing by Jason Subler)