China's Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world's largest bank by assets, reportedly extended hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to high-risk borrowers across Africa for infrastructure projects — even after its own internal systems flagged corruption risks and compliance failures, according to a new report.

The report, published by the United States-based Africa Defense Forum (ADF), draws on an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which reviewed nearly 5 million internal documents spanning 2005 to 2024 held at the bank's London offices. The documents reportedly reveal a pattern of lending shaped less by standard risk controls and more by Beijing's geopolitical priorities.

What the Internal Documents Show

According to the report, credit application forms and other confidential records sometimes carried the phrase 'China rationale' to justify pursuing certain deals — language that, in the report's framing, exposes the explicitly political logic behind some loan decisions. Instructions from ICBC's Communist Party committee, which channels government policy directives into the bank's operations, reportedly pushed officials to work with clients that other international lenders had avoided due to corruption concerns.

In 2024, ICBC's Beijing headquarters itself flagged that the bank's overseas operations showed poor client screening, weak employee oversight, and incomplete anti-money-laundering reporting. Senior ICBC officials reportedly ignored those warnings. One internal note, cited in the report, quoted a banker describing some client governments as 'clearly kleptocracies' — yet the lending relationship continued.

Geopolitics Over Compliance

The ADF report argues that ICBC prioritised geopolitical objectives tied to Beijing over standard risk controls, routinely courting borrowers in Africa and elsewhere that fell well outside conventional banking thresholds. The report noted that 'when convenient for Beijing, the records show, the bankers would willingly serve state companies — even those that were not transparent about their financial flows and controlled by governments that, in the words of one ICBC banker, were clearly kleptocracies.'

This comes amid broader scrutiny of China's financial footprint in Africa. The ADF had separately reported in July 2026 that China's growing investments in African ports undermine the sovereignty of African nations and are reportedly being repurposed for military and intelligence uses.

Debt Burden and Transparency Concerns

Analysts note that while Chinese investment has boosted trade volumes for several African economies, many of the underlying deals reportedly lack transparency and impose heavy debt obligations on recipient governments, alongside long-term operational dependencies. Critics argue that this model of lending — prioritising strategic access over borrower viability — leaves African nations exposed to both financial and geopolitical risk.

Notably, this is not the first time ICBC's international operations have drawn scrutiny. The London offices have previously been examined by regulators over compliance gaps, making the latest findings part of a longer pattern rather than an isolated incident.

What Comes Next

The ICIJ investigation — spanning nearly two decades of internal records — is expected to generate further scrutiny of ICBC's overseas lending practices. Whether regulatory bodies in the United Kingdom, where ICBC maintains its European hub, or multilateral institutions take action in response to the findings remains to be seen. The bank has not publicly responded to the report's core allegations, according to available reports.