You can't fault the ambition. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, said chairman Jiang Jianqing in June, wants to become “the world's most profitable, pre-eminent, and respected bank”.

By the first two measures it is already there, or thereabouts. Net income at the world's biggest financial institution by market capitalisation should be about $12bn this year, half as much again as JPMorgan; return on equity is expected at 19 per cent, better than Goldman Sachs' 16. Notions of “respect” are best left to the marketing department. But even at a lofty valuation – ICBC trades at 2.5 times book value in Hong Kong, 50 per cent higher than the average among the world's top 20 banks by market cap – only one analyst among 33 dares venture a “sell”.

Thursday's first-half results showed why. Net income was up 3 per cent on record loan growth; provisions and bad loans were down. The sharp drop in interest rates caused ICBC to suffer a 76 basis-point fall in its net interest margin, year on year, to 2.25 per cent. But frothy equity markets mean that customers shift from term to demand deposits, which cost the bank less. Heightened capital requirements, meanwhile, are at least a quarter away.