It’s an historic week in China - and not just because Prime Minister John Key is there talking trade and making friends so we can sell more milk!

Its giant Agricultural Bank is making its first public offering as the country wrestles with global financial uncertainty coupled with its hungry and growing economy.

Pundits are picking it could hit $23 billion, making AgBank the number one money spinner in history.

Bankers here in NZ will be in awe of the numbers – with 24,000 branches in China and the biggest customer base in the world, it’s key to the country’s future economic development.

Shares will be listed in Hong Kong and Shanghai. But don’t count your Chinese chickens just yet! Shares prices around the world remain weak.  Still, as the share sale ended on Monday, the appetite for a slice of AgBank’s action appeared relatively strong, showing investors view China as a power player in the world economy.

It’s also a lesson in how developing countries are dominating capital markets as volatile American and European capital markets continue to struggle.

Interestingly, the biggest IPOs (Initial Public Offering) in the world this year have launched from Asian and developing countries. The top 10 include companies in China, Russia, Poland and India with only one from Western Europe – Spain – and none from the U.S.

Most China watchers are picking China’s growth to slow this year, partly because of government measures to curtail property prices. Add to this that China’s benchmark stock index, the Shanghai Composite Index, has lost more than 26%, one of the worst-performing markets globally.

In its pitch to investors, AgBank made it a point to emphasise that it doesn’t lend money to poor farmers. That sits uneasily with the government’s direction to try to lift incomes for China’s poorer, rural people and narrow the wealth gap between countryside and city. Of all the banks in China, AgBank is saddled with most of the social responsibility.

-          Genevieve Westcott, Host, “Money Talks”