Global 2000: ICBC tops ranking for seventh year

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China's most valuable brand, topped Forbes's newly released annual ranking of the world's top 2,000 largest public companies for the seven consecutive years.

The State-owned bank, which generated 298.7 billion yuan ($43.5 billion) in net profit last year, has assets of more than $4 trillion and nearly half a million employees, according to Forbes.

Meanwhile, China Construction Bank, the Agricultural Bank of China and the Bank of China, renowned as the "Big Four" banks in China along with ICBC, also joined the top 10, ranking at third, fourth and eighth places, respectively.

Ping An Insurance Group came in at seventh with a market capital of $220.2 billion, according to Forbes.

In Forbes's ranking, 309 of the world's top 2,000 largest public companies are from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.

The United States has 575 companies, the most among the 61 countries and regions involved in the ranking.

Japan is third-largest contributor, with 223 companies joining in the list.

This year marks the 17th release of the Global 2000 ranking since it was first published by Forbes in 2003, when the United States was home to 776 companies in the list while the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong only had 43.

Industry-wise, banks and diversified finance make up most of the list, with 453 companies appearing on it, followed by tech industry and construction industry, with 184 and 123 companies on the list, respectively.