On April 20, 2017 (local time), Czech National Bank issued a banking license to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and approved the establishment of ICBC Prague Branch. As Czech plays a key role in the Belt and Road Initiative, the establishment of Prague Branch not only makes ICBC the first non-EU bank to win a branch license in Czech, but also extends the Bank’s network along the Belt and Road enhancing its cross-border financial services in Central Eastern Europe (CEE).

Situated in the center of Europe, Czech has been historically a bridge connecting the markets between eastern and western Europe. Czech has long been an important trade partner of China in this region, while China has been the biggest trade partner of Czech outside the EU for many years. The progress of the Belt and Road Initiative has created increasing demands in Czech, among many other countries in CEE, in infrastructure connectivity and industrial investment. The deepening of international productivity cooperation also put higher requirements on the accommodation of funds and financial services. The opening of ICBC Prague Branch will not only boost the cooperation under the Belt and Road framework between China and CEE countries, but also provide opportunities for China’s businesses going global to better use the market opportunities of Czech and other CEE countries to achieve win-win cooperation.

For the past few years, ICBC has provided comprehensive financial services for domestic companies to go global and the Belt and Road Initiative by leveraging its  group-wide integration and global service network. ICBC has the leading network coverage in countries along the Belt and Road among the Chinese banks with 127 institutions in 18 countries along the route. In CEE, ICBC takes the Belt and Road Initiative as an opportunity to push forward the collaboration between local enterprises and their Chinese counterparts, provides project investment and financing support in fields such as infrastructure upgrade, RES development, industrial park construction, manufacturing industry, logistics and R&D, and offers localized services including deposit, settlement and account regulation, which facilitates the economic and social development of CEE countries.