The net profit of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's largest lender, is expected to grow more than 26 percent this year.

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Jiang Jianqing, the bank's board chairman, made the remark at a latest seminar held by China Center for Economic Research, which is affiliated to the renowned Peking University. 

Last year, the net profit of the ICBC was 33.7 billion yuan (4.3 billion U.S. dollars). If the ratio of 26 percent is fulfilled this year, the net profit will exceed 42.5 billion yuan (5 billion dollars).

ICBC's pre-provision profit will exceed 100 billion yuan (12.5 billion dollars) in 2006, Jiang said.

Jiang expressed hope that the share of ICBC can become an ideal long-term investment tool for the investors.

Shares of the ICBC, the largest commercial bank in China, started trading in Hong Kong and Shanghai on Oct. 27.

It is the first Chinese enterprise to have issued the record-smashing initial public offering and have been listed simultaneously in Hong Kong and Shanghai bourses. Since then, its price has been jumping more than 80 percent.

The A share of the ICBC rose 10 percent daily limit to 5.21 yuan on Dec.25, making itself the third largest bank in the world after CitiBank and the Bank of America.

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