On October 14, 2015 (local time of Mexico), ICBC (Mexico) was officially opened in Mexico City, capital of the country, becoming the first Chinese bank in Mexico. So far, ICBC has set up operations in four Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Mexico), forming a relatively complete service network in the region. Present at the opening ceremony were Luo Fuhe, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Fernando Aportela, Mexican undersecretary of Finance and Public Credit, Qiu Xiaoqi, Chinese ambassador to Mexico, Qian Wenhui, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of ICBC, and Abraham Zamora Torres, President of Banobras, a national works and public services bank in Mexico.

The opening of ICBC (Mexico) marked a milestone in the Group's international strategy and an outstanding achievement in advancing economic and financial cooperation between China and Mexico; it was also one of the major moves taken to establish a bilateral financial platform between China and Mexico and promote bilateral trade and investment, said Qian Wenhui at the opening ceremony. In the last two years, ICBC has well performed its duties as presidency of a high-level working group for Chinese and Mexican entrepreneurs, conducted extensive and fruitful exchanges and cooperation with the Mexican government, industrial and commercial communities, and actively participated in local financing projects in the areas of energy and telecommunications on the basis of such cooperation mechanism. After its founding, ICBC (Mexico) will harness the business foundations accumulated previously and the new functions of its license, and leverage the Group's globalization experience and resources support to provide comprehensive financial services to Chinese enterprises that invest and operate in Mexico as well as more financial service options to Mexican enterprises, carry out cooperation with local financial institutions, facilitate socioeconomic development of the country, and higher levels of trade and economic cooperation between China and Mexico.

As the second biggest economy in Latin America, Mexico is also the emerging economy that has developed most sustainably and steadily over more than a decade in this region. It connects the NAFTA with the Latin American economic zone, and hence holds a critically strategic position. In January 2014, Mexico passed a financial reform act, paving the way for Chinese banks to apply for local institutional establishment. In November 2014, ICBC obtained the local banking license, becoming the first Chinese bank as well as the first foreign-funded bank to be established in the country by means of application in about 20 years.

In recent years, the Bank has actively adapted itself to customers' demand for diversified financial services, and improved its overseas layout by closely following the foreign trade and investment development of China, with its global service capacity enhanced obviously. So far, ICBC's overseas network has covered 42 countries and regions across the world, established 400 branches and institutions, and extended its reach to 20 African countries by investing in Standard Bank Plc. It is the Chinese financial institution with the broadest global network coverage, and has formed a global financial service network spanning Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe, North America and Australia.