China’s four biggest publicly traded banks could face a combined capital shortfall of at least Rmb480 billion (around $70 billion) over the next five years, according to the president of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s biggest bank by market value, according to the Financial Times.

All of China’s largest banks have announced plans in the past month to raise fresh capital to shore up their balance sheets.

However, the newspaper said the total amounts they plan to raise fall far short of the five-year estimate of Yang Kaisheng, ICBC president.

The issue highlights how Chinese banks, while their financial woes may not have grabbed the same fierce level of media attention as say, the problems suffered by US and European firms, have been hit by gyrations in global markets.

Given the sheer size of the capital shortfall, the banks will find it very difficult to rely solely on Chinese capital markets to fill the gap, Yang wrote in a Chinese newspaper article as translated by the FT.

Mr Yang said his Rmb480 billion estimate only included the extra capital that would be required as a result of steady lending growth, “but if we consider the market risks and operational risks the amount of capital needed will be greater”.