KUALA LUMPUR (28 April 2010): Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Malaysia) Berhad (ICBC Malaysia) formally opened for business today.

Present to witness the grand opening were Prime Minister Dato' Seri Mohd  Najib Tun Razak, Minister of Prime Minister's Department Y.B Senator Tan Sri. Dr. Koh Tso Koon, Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Deputy Minister of Finance Dato'Wira Chor Chee Heung JP, Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Mr Liu Jian, Vice-Chairman and President of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Dr. Yang Kaisheng, and Member of the Board, Senior Executive Vice President of ICBC Madam. Wang Lili.

ICBC Malaysia is the Malaysian subsidiary of ICBC, the world's largest bank by market capitalization.

At the opening ceremony, President Yang said the ICBC group would make available its capital resources, network advantage and technology strength to help ICBC Malaysia better serve its clients.

"ICBC Malaysia will strictly abide by local regulations, enhance its risk management, improve its internal controls, and follow best practices of the local market to ensure it remains a highly reputable financial institution known for prudent performance."President Yang said.

He noted that ICBC Malaysia opened at a time when trade between the two countries increased rapidly. Today, China is Malaysia's largest trading partner while Malaysia is China's largest trading partner among the ASEAN countries. Even in the midst of a global economic recession, trade between China and Malaysia still achieved US$51.96 billion in 2009. This year, bilateral trade between the two countries is already showing a strong growth momentum, thanks to recovery in the global economy and the establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement.

President Yang noted that the ever-increasing economic, trade and investment activities between the two countries laid a solid foundation for the further development of the financial industry and raised new demands for banking services.

Many ICBC customers, he noted, had economic and trade ties with Malaysian enterprises, while some also had direct investments in Malaysia. ICBC Malaysia will be dedicated to servicing this bilateral economic and trade exchanges and providing more convenient and quality services.

In recent years, ICBC accelerated the extension of its network across Asia, including the ASEAN region. With the opening of ICBC Malaysia, ICBC has successfully expanded its reach to five major countries in the region, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, which collectively account for 80 percent of the ASEAN's GDP, and has built up a chain of full service operating units within the region.

ICBC Malaysia further complements ICBC's operation network across Asia, covering Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Korea, the ASEAN countries, the Middle East and Central Asia, making ICBC one of the few banks that capable to provide comprehensive financial services across the entire Asian region.

As the biggest bank in China, ICBC now boasts most extensive customer base, outstanding IT strength and a diversified business structure, leading its peers in major business lines.

Since its dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong in 2006, ICBC has witnessed rapid progress in management and profitability. Today, ICBC is the largest bank by market capitalization, profit making, and deposit size. 

Under the scenario of economic integration and banking globalization, ICBC has continuously kept pace with the demands for cross-border banking services from Chinese companies that have gone global.

ICBC has rigorously and stably stepped up its internationalization strategy, broadened overseas business reach and enhanced its global service capabilities.

Up to present, the bank has extended its network across 21 countries and territories around the world, with a total of 163 overseas institutions. It also has correspondent banking relationship with 1,403 banks in 125 countries and territories which, combined, constituted a worldwide financial service platform featured with clearly-layered organizational structure, reasonably targeted market segments, diversified delivery and efficient operations, covering international financial hubs and China's major economic and trading partners.

Despite the unfavourable economic conditions over the past two years, all ICBC's overseas institutions, including newly opened units, withstood the severe challenges and sustained sound development.

All of them yielded profits over the year of 2009, with a year-on-year growth of 165 per cent in pre-tax profits. By the end of 2009, the total assets of ICBC's overseas operations had reached around US$50 billion, a 23 percent increase when compared to the beginning of the year. Its overseas institutions also maintained sound asset quality and sufficient provisions.