Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, a state-owned commercial bank, will launch a private banking business in some cities, including Beijing, this year according to Yi Huiman, head of the bank's branch in Beijing. ICBC, sold CNY154.4 billion ($21.3 billion) of personal financing products in 2007, up 126.49 per cent year-on-year. It introduced 35 personal financing products in yuan and 24 products in foreign currencies. Bank of China has been operating a private banking service in cooperation with Royal Bank of Scotland. Both China Citic Bank and China Merchants Bank are also offering private banking services. Last year ICBC, which is listed in both Hong Kong and Shanghai, overtook Citigroup as the world's top ranked bank with total market capitalisation of $337.2 billion. The bank recently announced an agreement to take a 20 per cent stake in South Africa's Standard Bank Group for $5.46 billion.