Investment Banking

ICBC’s entree onto Wall Street looked like a bargain — until hackers crippled its US unit

The China megabank bought its US broker-dealer 13 years ago for practically nothing

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After ICBC FS was hacked, it was forced to unplug from the US Treasury market and begin to clear trades manually Photo: Future Publishing/Getty Images

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest bank, paid $1 for its place on Wall Street. It got more than it bargained for.

The Chinese lender acquired a small New York broker-dealer in 2010, a move that extended its presence into the US securities industry. It is now dealing with the fallout from a cyber attack this month that crippled that business and briefly triggered widespread concerns about the fragility of the largest cash market in the world.

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