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Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Opens Subsidiary Bank in ME

DUBAI — Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Middle East) Limited on Saturday announced the launch of its operations in the Middle East and North Africa region. ICBC (Middle East) is the first wholly-owned subsidiary bank established in the Middle East by any Chinese bank till date.

This launch also reflects that ICBC has successfully taken a major step towards expanding its overseas financial services offering and promoting its internationalisation strategy, says a Press release.

Located at Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), ICBC (Middle East) has been authorised to conduct the financial services listed under Category One, which covers the widest range of the local financial regulation. It includes accepting deposits, providing credits, trade finance, dealing in investments as principal, dealing in investments as agent, arranging credit or deals in investments, managing assets, advising on financial products or credit, arranging custody, etc. Since the 1950s, China and the UAE have been trading partners and in recent years, bilateral trade has witnessed sustained and rapid growth. In 2007, bilateral trade amounted to more than $20 billion, an increase of 41 per cent over 2006. The UAE has become China's second largest trading partner and largest export market in the Arab world.

At the end of 2007, non-financial direct investment from Chinese enterprises in the UAE has amounted to $180 million, involving sectors such as petroleum and petrochemicals, telecommunications, trade, project contracting, logistics and real estate, while Chinese-funded companies registered in the UAE have topped 3000.