China Construction Bank (CCB) has been approved by the US Federal Reserve to establish a branch in New York, the lender announced here on Tuesday.

The proposed branch would engage in wholesale deposit-taking, lending, trade finance, and other banking services, the Federal Reserve said in a notice on its website.

This was CCB's first branch in America. Besides the New York branch, it operates six overseas branches, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul.

CCB is one of China's "Big four" state-owned banks. The Central Huijin Investment Ltd., an investment arm of the sovereign wealth fund of the China Investment Corporation, owns 56.55 percent of the company's shares.

The CCB's total assets topped 7.3 trillion yuan (US$1.1 trillion) at the end of November, up nearly 11 percent year on year, according to its third quarter report. Enditem

(Xinhua News Agency December 9, 2008)