On December 1, 2014 (local time, the UK), ICBC London Branch officially declared itself open for business in London, capital of the United Kingdom. Alan Yarrow, the Lord Mayor of the City of London; Megan Butler, PRA Executive Director; Katharine Braddick, Director of Financial Services, HM Treasury; Ni Jian, Minister of the Chinese Embassy in the UK; and Jiang Jianqing, ICBC Chairman, among others, attended the opening ceremony held on the same day in the City of London. Prior to this, ICBC had already obtained the license for branch operations granted by the British regulatory authorities, becoming the first branch of a Chinese bank from Mainland China approved to be established in the UK since the founding of the PRC.

At the opening ceremony, ICBC Chairman Jiang Jianqing said that the Bank has always valued the British market and regarded London as one of its core strategic markets for overseas development. ICBC London Branch and ICBC (London) plc, the existing local subsidiary of the Bank, will be primarily engaged in traditional commercial banking, with the former focusing on the development of large wholesale business and the latter on retail and SME business respectively. ICBC is currently in the process of the transaction of gaining control over Standard Bank Plc, and will turn it into its overseas flagship in the spheres of commodities, currencies and capital markets to serve clients in global financial markets. Going forward, by forming a UK-based financial services platform with complementary advantages and strategic synergies, the Bank will continue to enhance its comprehensive financial service capacities, and play an even larger role in promoting bilateral trade and economic ties and serving enterprises from the two countries.

Since the establishment of China-UK comprehensive strategic partnership in 2004, remarkable progress has been made in bilateral relations, with extraordinary cooperation results achieved in the areas of politics, trade and economy, education, science and technology, culture, energy and finance. The China-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue has so far been successfully held for six times, with the approval of the establishment of ICBC London Branch as one of the fruits from the event. The UK is currently China's third biggest trade partner in the EU, second biggest source of actual foreign investment as well as a major destination for overseas investment of China. In 2013, bilateral trade amounted to USD70 billion, more than trebling the level a decade ago. Chinese investments in the UK have reached USD13 billion in the last two years, more than the total of the past three decades.

Increasing cooperation in trade, economy and investment between the two countries has paved the way for the development of the financial sector, but also raised new requirements for banking services. Having opened for business, ICBC London Branch will adhere to the philosophy of customer-oriented, rigorous and standardized operations, actively integrate with the British market and provide full-suite financial services to clients of both countries. After obtaining the regulatory approval, the branch has pulled off a good start in terms of business expansion and customer service, and laid a solid foundation for business development. In October, ICBC London Branch, together with other major international banks, successfully provided a £2,150 million syndicated revolving credit facility for Heathrow Airport, as a Mandated Lead Arranger. It also provided a £80 million credit support in favour of Lloyds of London, the first by a Chinese bank, on behalf of China Reinsurance. Since these inaugural commitments, the London Branch has entered into several other credit facilities for highly-regarded clients, including Airbus Group, InterContinental Hotels Group and Jaguar Land Rover, further strengthening the bank’s market profile within this important financial centre. Moreover, the branch has also successfully arranged a RMB 2 billion cross-border RMB financing deal by cooperating with the Bank's domestic branches, setting the stage for ICBC to further develop cross-border RMB business in London. The majority of these transactions would not have been possible without the branch licence.

In recent years, by actively advancing its international operation strategy, the Bank has accelerated the layout of its overseas institutions, and broadened scope of business development in an effort to boost its global financial service capacities. So far, it has established over 330 overseas institutions in 41 countries and territories worldwide, and reached out to nearly 20 African countries by investing in Standard Bank, shaping a global service network spanning Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe, North America and Australia.