Company

Head of legal

China Telecom

Zhang Jianbin

ICBC

Zhang Wei

China Life Insurance

Zheng Yong

GD Midea Holding

Zhang Chengming

Ping An Insurance (Group)

Yao Jun

Shanda Interactive Entertainment

Thomas Yih

China Construction Bank

Cheng Meifen

Sinopec

Shao Jingyang

China Souther Airlines

Chen Weihua

Sinochem International

Liu Wenzhao

China Telecom
Sector: Telecommunications and information services
Ranking: 263 in 2009 FortuneGlobal 500

Department manager: Zhang Jianbin

Legal department:
Seven in-house lawyers headquartered in Beijing, headed by Zhang Jianbin, with more than 300 in-house lawyers in 31 provincial and municipal branches. The department has established unified communications and cooperation, including fixed arrangements such as monthly teleconference, annual research program, annual cross-training program, and a sharing website. Flexible arrangements like temporary transfer of lawyers according to work requirements also exist, ensuring efficient sharing of internal legal resources.

Expertise and experience:
Covers both traditional legal department duties, such as contract review, litigation, and IP rights, and tailor-made legal services to the telecommunication and information services business.

The team has also been involved in the company’s capital market and M&A activities, centring on compliance and risk management, increasing the team’s experience in corporate legal practice as the company’s business and operations grow in scope and sophistication.

Biggest challenge:
The main challenge comes from the company’s business expansion in overseas markets. Increasing exposure to different jurisdictions requires a higher level of expertise and skills.

Recent notable activity:
The team has played an important role in China Telecom’s US$15.8bn acquisition of China Unicom’s CDMA business, both as in-house counsel and as the transaction team’s organiser and coordinator. Consisting of a business transfer in relation to CDMA subscribers in 31 provinces in China and related assets transfer relating to a complex CDMA network and share transfers, the transaction involves listed companies China Unicom and China Telecom, which added complexity.

With the assistance of external counsel (Linklaters and Jingtian & Gongchen) and leveraging of the legal team’s indepth knowledge of the business and industry, the team not only provided high-quality legal services to internal clients, but ensured the smooth and orderly progression of the transaction.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
Sector: Banking and Finance
Ranking: World’s largest bank by market value, ranked 92 in 2009 Fortune Global 500

Department manager: Zhang Wei

Legal department:
The headquarters’ legal department was established in 1996. It currently employs 38 legal staff in six teams, including four focusing on compliance and contract review, one for dispute resolution and one for general management and coordination.

Expertise and experience:
The legal department has played an important role in ICBC’s progress on globalisation, assisting the company in listings overseas, opening branches in important markets and acquiring shares in foreign banks. The department has helped the bank keep risks and losses to a minimum during the GFC, and provided strong support to the bank’s innovation and business development areas.

In 2008, legal teams from headquarters and branches issued more than 160,000 legal opinions, provided over 240,000 solutions to prevent and control risks, and participated in more than 20,000 negotiations (over 50,000 hours). In terms of dispute resolution, the department handled more than 20,000 litigation and arbitration cases. Based on in-depth research on customer complaints and leveraging the expertise of international banks, the department established its customer complaints management policy. ICBC is the first domestic bank to do this.

Top three responsibilities:
Compliance, managing and handling litigation cases, internal authorisation and customer complaint management.

Top three practice areas:
Overseas investment and M&A; crossborder syndicated loans and project finance; and other innovative finance products and services, including online banking, assets trust and management.

Top three outsourced practice areas:
Cross-border M&A, cross-border syndicate loans, debt litigation, and arbitration.

Most-used domestic/international firms:
Linklaters, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Allen & Overy, King & Wood, JunZeJun, Global Law Offices.

What are your main criteria when selecting external firms?
Professional ethics and conduct, diligent and responsible working attitude, and excellent technical skills combined with great attainments in specialised areas.

Biggest challenges:
With ICBC becoming an increasingly global bank, the legal departments are facing many new challenges. In-house counsel have to understand the legal environment and regulatory framework of each jurisdiction the bank operates in, and ensure that it complies. Legal departments must assist the bank to manage an increasingly sophisticated array of multi-jurisdictional legal risks and issues, and prevent a legal matter in any jurisdiction from developing into a worldwide public relations crisis.

Recent notable activity:
Establishing overseas branches and subsidiaries in important global markets, such as New York, Sydney, Moscow, Doha and Dubai. US$5.6bn acquisition of a stake in Standard Bank, the largest bank in South Africa. Takeover of PT Bank Halim Indonesia. US$583m acquisition of Seng Heng Bank in Macau. Restructuring (A-share and H-share IPOs) of ICBC, which is the the largest IPO in the world to date, raising US$21.9bn.