Workers install a sign above the entrance to a branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. (Photo : Getty Images)
State-owned banks and Internet tech firms lead the list of the top 10 most valuable brands in China this year, based on a report by Brand Finance, a brand valuation and strategy consulting firm based in Britain.
Citing the list, Xinhua News Agency said in a report that the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, one of the country's major banks, bested China Mobile to take the lead. The bank's brand value is estimated to be about $47.8 billion, earning more than $10 billion in 2016 and was ranked 10th place globally.
Among China's Internet firms, Alibaba, the leading e-commerce company, was chosen as the most valuable brand, with a value that rose by 48.5 percent year-on-year to reach $34.8 billion.
Meanwhile, Tencent, which ranks 10th in China, has a brand value of about $22.3 billion, the report said.
But compared with last year, Tencent's WeChat, which is the most popular messaging app in the country, climbed more than 100 notches up the global rank, with more than $12.1 billion.
On the other hand, Baidu, China's leading search engine, plunged 50 notches down in the global hierarchy.
The Brand Finance report contains the top 500 valuable brands in the world, Xinhua said.
In world rank, Google topped the list as the most valuable brand. It overtook Apple as the popular search engine's intangible assets reached some $109.7 billion.
In ranking companies in its list, Brand Finance used criteria such as brand strength, potential value of brand licensing, and prospect sales volume, among others.
A Forbes report last year said that to calculate the Top 10, the firm took into consideration factors such as familiarity, loyalty, promotion, marketing investment, staff satisfaction and corporate reputation.
Every year, Brand Finance evaluates thousands of the world's top brands to determine which are the most powerful and which are the most valuable, which they rank in their annual Brand Finance Global 500 report.
The report gives investors insights on which companies to invest based on the ranking, performance and potential for growth.
