The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) announced five new offices in Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels, Madrid and Milan with retail and commercial-banking services.

ICBC, the oldest bank in China (1912), is one of the big four state-owned commercial banks of the People’s Republic of China with 160 branches abroad including offices in London, Frankfurt, Luxembourg and Moscow.

The Chinese banking giant serves more than 3,6 million corporate customers and 3,1 million retail customers and claims to be the most profitable bank in the world and the largest by market value.

China is Europe's biggest trading partner with Chinese exports to Europe amounted to some 300 billion euros in 2010. This expansion is considered part of an overall government strategy to enter the European banking sector and strengthen ties with European banking and business partners.