ICBC promoted corrupt executive, ignored employee misconduct as it pursued global expansion

For many years, Zhang Hongli was the face of China’s banking might. A plugged-in networker who golfed with Beijing princelings, Zhang helmed the Asia units of Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs before becoming a senior executive vice president of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in 2010. Just “ZHL” in some of ICBC’s internal communications, Zhang traveled the world to sign lucrative deals with new business partners, hobnob with corporate clients and meet bank staff, according to a trove of confidential records. He was a member of the Chinese Communist Party and of China’s top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Some bank records refer to Zhang as “comrade.”