OREANDA-NEWS. October 11, 2011. Since January this year, ICBC takes full advantage of the strong momentum of yuan's internationalization to play the role as the No.1 RMB Bank. The Bank continues to embark aggressively on cross-border renminbi business backed by its global service network and an IT platform spanning across inside and outside China. ICBC saw a strong growth trajectory in its RMB business, with a turnover in the first half of 2011 trebled last year's to RMB 406 billion, RMB 280.4 billion in cross-border RMB settlement, RMB 120.6 billion in trade finance, reported the press-centre of ICBC.

Worth of note is that, ICBC leverages its market dominance as No.1 RMB bank and leading technology to build a safe and highly efficient RMB clearing network for banks around the world, laying a solid foundation for the growth of cross-border RMB business. As of today, ICBC tops the league table by opening 231 cross-border RMB interbank accounts for overseas subsidiaries and correspondent banks in 53 countries/regions. On March 11 this year, ICBC's first overseas RMB Business Center in Singapore Branch was officially opened to business. The Center processes RMB transactions of Singapore Branch in one location and extends ICBC's renminbi services to whole Southeast Asia driven by the strong geographical advantage of Singapore in Southeast Asia.

ICBC has been actively looking for a new model to deliver RMB financial services outside China since the pilot of cross-border RMB settlement, said an executive with ICBC. Today, the Bank's cross-border RMB business covers trade, services, capital and financing, an initial customer-oriented product offering called "ICBC Cross-Border Link" encompassing many product lines, namely retail banking, clearing, trade finance, global cash management, investment banking, asset management. Diversified product portfolios are offered to meet the individual needs of customers in cross-border RMB financial services.

In product innovation, ICBC continues to be the top player in this business segment. During the first six months of this year, ICBC International, the wholly-owned investment banking arm of ICBC in Hong Kong, being appointed as one of the lead underwriters and bookrunners to offer RMB 300 million worth of renminbi-denominated bonds for YFY Cayman Company, the first RMB bonds issued in Hong Kong by a Taiwanese firm.

ICBC Asia, the flagship branch of ICBC outside China, joined the offering of RMB 3 billion of RMB bonds in Hong Kong for China National Cereal Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation. Not only is this the largest RMB corporate bond offering in Hong Kong in terms of issuance size, but ICBC domestic and overseas branches create a new model by wiring bond proceed back to China. This translates to more channels for the circulation of RMB in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Meanwhile, ICBC Leasing, a subsidiary of ICBC, concluded a lease of RMB 500 million of two 82,000-ton ocean going vessels for Sanhe Hope Full Grain & Oil Group Refined Vegetable Co., Ltd, the first cross-border RMB leasing project in the country.