The official newspaper, citing an unidentified source, said the bank may take a controlling stake or purchase Huarong outright.

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Huarong was set up in 1999 to help dispose of non-performing assets that ICBC had accumulated over decades in its role as a key policy bank. Huarong remained a major institutional investor in the bank.

Jiang Jianqing, the chairman of ICBC, said at the shareholder meeting that the bank plans to diversify into financial leasing, trust investment, asset management and insurance.

The bank's president, Yang Kaisheng, was the president of Huarong from 1999 to 2004.

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