One of the world's largest banks, ICBC, has continued to get out its wallet, agreeing to buy a business operated by South Africa-headquartered Standard Bank.

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China has agreed to buy control of South Africa-headquartered Standard Bank Group’s markets unit, in a move signalling a possible further drive into Western and other markets by the Asian lender.

“ICBC has reached an agreement with Standard Bank Group Limited regarding the acquisition of 60 per cent of the existing issued shares in Standard Bank. The parties will proceed to seek regulatory approvals for this transaction,” according to a statement by ICBC on its website.

Based on end-June 2013 valuations, the consideration ICBC is making for the bank is worth around $770 million, the statement said. Standard Bank has granted ICBC a five-year option to acquire an additional 20 per cent stake in the business.

A report by Bloomberg said the purchase will advance ICBC Chairman Jiang Jianqing’s target of tripling the contribution of overseas earnings to 10 per cent by 2016 as the bank follows corporate clients expanding abroad and seeks to tap demand for yuan-denominated goods and services. Since 2007, ICBC has spent about $7 billion on more than 10 acquisitions from South Africa to the US.

ICBC also recently agreed to buy 80 per cent of the US subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Bank of East Asia for $140 million.

Several reports said its move will see the start of more Chinese purchases of Western financial institutions. Interestingly, while a number of entities, such as Middle East-based groups, have been buyers of wealth management operations – as in the case of Falcon Private Bank, Chinese buyers have been so far less evident in this area.