Chinese bank opens new branch in Saudi city Jeddah

Representatives attend an event to announce the opening of an ICBC Jeddah branch in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 16, 2023. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) on Tuesday opened a new branch in the Saudi city of Jeddah. This was announced at a business meeting held in Riyadh on promoting the use of Chinese currency RMB. (Xinhua/Wang Haizhou)

RIYADH, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) on Tuesday opened a new branch in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

This was announced at a business meeting held in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on promoting the use of Chinese currency RMB. More than 150 people attended the event, including Chen Siqing, chairman of ICBC, Yin Lijun, charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Saudi Arabia, and Wang Qimin, consul general of the Chinse Consulate-General in Jeddah.

Chen lauded the deepening pragmatic cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia in various fields for bringing tangible benefits to the people of both countries.

As the world's largest commercial bank and the largest RMB service provider, the ICBC will take the opening of the Jeddah branch as an opportunity to continuously enrich the high-quality financial supply, implement the important consensus of the two heads of state with practical actions, and provide high-quality financial services, he added.

Yin said that the increasingly close economic and trade cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia has created great potential for the development of RMB settlement and investment.

ICBC Riyadh Branch on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with Saudi National Center for Privatization &PPP, and signed a cooperation agreement on RMB business with Saudi Ajlan &Bros Holding Group.

As China and Saudi Arabia have further strengthened their comprehensive strategic partnership in recent years, the bilateral trade hit a record high of 116 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, fully demonstrating the vigor and vitality of the economic and trade cooperation between the two sides.

The ICBC is the first Chinese bank to enter the Middle East market, with institutions set up in four countries, namely Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait.