OREANDA-NEWS. February 28, 2011. At the "Icebreakers" Dinner hosted by "The 48 Group Club", Sir Andrew Cahn, the Chief Executive of UK Trade & Investment, presented the "Chinese Inward Investor of the Year Award" to ICBC London - a wholly-owned subsidiary of ICBC in United Kingdom, in recognition of the outstanding contribution of the Branch in serving the economy and financial business community between the two countries. ICBC London is the first financial institution to receive the Award, reported the press-centre of ICBC.

Industry insiders commented on the reasons for ICBC London edging ahead all other Chinese companies to win this year's award. Besides the outstanding contribution of the Branch to the China-UK business relationship in financial sector, exchange of personnel, people of UK are deeply impressed by ICBC London's fast and healthy growth and good localization business model. ICBC London brings fresh air to the slow recovery of UK economy after the financial crisis. Everybody is watching the potential of the Branch.

ICBC London was established in May, 2003. Today, the Branch is a mainstream Chinese bank in London offering comprehensive financial services covering United Kingdom, Western Europe and Africa. At present, ICBC London has an asset scale of nearly USD 2.5 billion from less than USD 200 million in 2005. Balance of corporate loans in the Branch rose to around USD 1.2 billion in 2010 from 2005's USD 100 million, trade finance amount went up to nearly USD 10 billion in 2010 from that of less than USD 200 million in 2005. Profit after provision in 2010 nearly quadrupled when compared to the same period a year ago. The momentum of the Branch was good.

Amid fierce competition among the banks, counting the first factor of ICBC London's leap-frog progress in London - a world's financial center, is the Branch's "localization" development strategy. ICBC London actively pushes for localization at the same time leveraging own advantages and local market conditions to offer full range of financial services for Chinese enterprise to "go global". The branch employs local staff to attract customers in the United Kingdom and Europe and multinational corporations engaging business with China. The result was significant. In less than a few years, number of European customers as a percentage of the total in the Branch grows from 2005's 10% to over 70% currently. Among them are many well-known companies like the British Airways, British Petroleum, Rolls-Royce. While gathering pace on the corporate banking business, ICBC London also focuses on setting up more outlets and expanding services to drive the growth of retail banking business. In October, 2009, the Chinatown sub-branch was set up by ICBC London to further expand the retail banking service. Backed by ICBC's technological strength, the Branch launched internet banking services this year to pave the way for its retail banking business.

The history of "The 48 Group Club" dates back to 1954's "UK-China Trade 48 Group". For more than half a century the Club is committed to promoting trade with China and business relation between the two countries. The "Chinese Inward Investor of the Year" is a prestigious "British Business Award" starting in 2004 and aims to recognize outstanding Chinese companies. The influential and authoritative award is respected in the industry.