Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited Luxembourg Branch (abbreviated as‘ICBC Luxembourg Branch’) has been designated as the RMB clearing bank in Luxembourg, according to an announcement made by the People’s bank of China (PBOC) on September 16, 2014. This appointment makes ICBC its first clearing bank in Europe, marking a major step for ICBC to create a global RMB clearing network across different time zones, while enhancing the internationalization of RMB, especially the utilization of RMB in the cross-border transactions in Europe.

After being mandated as the RMB clearing bank, ICBC Luxembourg Branch promises that they will strictly fulfill the obligations to the regulatory rules under the direction of authorities of both China and Luxembourg, commit to providing safe, premium and efficient RMB clearing service relying on its preponderant advantage in business, network and services, and make contribution to further boosting bilateral economic and trade cooperation between China and Europe.
Today, Luxembourg is already one of the most important hubs for cross-border RMB business in the Eurozone, and serves as the gateway for Sino-EU trade and investment.

Being the largest offshore fund centre in the world after the US, the largest global Euro bond listing platform and the premier private banking center in the Eurozone, Luxembourg has a remarkable expertise in financial services. As one of the few remaining European countries with an AAA rating, Luxembourg also offers a stable political and economical environment.

Luxembourg not only has the largest pool of RMB in the Eurozone with 79.4bn RMB in deposits and 73.0bn RMB in loans until the end of Q1 2014, but it is also the largest RMB securities settlement centre and the leading listing place for RMB denominated bonds in Europe. The funds investing in RMB denominated assets domiciled in Luxembourg have managed assets over 261.8bn RMB. Luxembourg is home to Clearstream, the principal European supplier of post-trading services, through which RMB bonds with a volume of currently 408bn RMB in Q1 2014 are cleared and financed. According to SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, Luxembourg ranks second in RMB payments in Europe.

According to the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, the Grand Duchy is the main recipient of Chinese FDI stock into Europe with a share of approximately 28%. Cargolux is one of the largest air freight transporters in the world, which makes Luxembourg as a strategic centre for logistical services.

As a result, the establishment of RMB clearing bank in Luxembourg will benefit both Chinese and Luxembourgish companies and financial institutions in trade and investment through its effective and comprehensive RMB services.

ICBC Luxembourg Branch, established in 1999, along with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Europe) S.A.(abbreviated as ICBC (Europe) S.A.), are both operating institutions that share the same team and supplement each other with advantages of different banking licenses. With Luxembourg as its hub, the bank also reaches out its customers across the continent, by interacting closely with branches of ICBC (Europe) S.A., namely Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Milan, Madrid, Barcelona, Warsaw and Lisbon representative office.

ICBC Luxembourg Branch has been tapping the group advantages and regional resources, and actively providing comprehensive financial services for customers on the local market or from China. Over the years, the overall competitiveness and sustainability have been substantially improved, making it the flagship of ICBC in Europe and the most rapidly-growing Chinese commercial bank in the European region.

In recent years, the bank has seized the strategic opportunity to accelerate the development of cross-border RMB business through the launch of a full range of RMB products and services, covering account service, settlement, deposit, loans, trade finance, FX & derivatives, cash management, asset management and capital market service, etc.

ICBC Luxembourg Branch also helps customers to diversify their fund channel by issuing offshore RMB bond, and to manage their RMB fund more effectively through tailor-made RMB cross-border cash pool, which serves as a bridge between onshore and offshore markets. Through the vigorous efforts, the RMB business of the bank has made a tremendous progress which resulted in an enhancement in the market dominance.