ICBC govt cash report rejected

Sources close to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) dismissed an earlier report in the Financial Times that the Chinese government was on the verge of approving a US$30bn capital injection into the bank, the China Daily reported. According to the FT, the government was looking to approve the recapitalization plan for the biggest state-owned commercial lender by the end of January, in time for an IPO later in the year expected to value the bank at more than US$10bn. The sources told the daily the FT report were "incorrect" but did not elaborate. The paper said officials at the China Banking Regulatory Commission declined to comment on the report, but an official from the Ministry of Finance said "no decision had been reached" yet on the bank's reform plan.