Top Chinese bank makes it to the USA

One of China’s “Big Four” will open for business in New York this summer.

Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) will open its first branch in the United States after it was granted a license by the New York Department of Financial Services last week. The branch will engage in wholesale deposit taking, lending, trade finance, foreign exchange and other banking services.

Ming Yu, branch general manager, said ABC’s New York branch will facilitate banking and other business activities between China and the United States by providing trade finance, dollar clearing and other services to businesses from both countries.

ABC, a latecomer to overseas expansion, follows other Big Four rivals Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the largest bank in China, and Bank of China. It has only three overseas branches in Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul, and representative offices in Tokyo, Frankfurt, Sydney and Vancouver.

This contrasts with ICBC’s foreign presence that consisted of 122 branches and offices in 15 countries and regions around the world in 2008.