The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) opened its representative office in Ulaanbaatar on Tuesday, September 5. The opening ceremony was attended by Minister of Finance B.Choijilsuren, Chinese Ambassador to Mongolia Xing Haiming and President of ICBC Gu Shu. At the ceremony, Gu stressed how Mongolia is an important country to China’s One Belt and Road Initiative. He noted that China and Mongolia signed cooperation agreements under the initiative in May, which will bring “huge opportunities” for the two countries' cooperation in industrial capacity and finance. Gu also said that ICBC always attaches great importance to the Mongolian market, adding that with ICBC's internationalized service network and diversified business lines, its Mongolia office will proactively devote itself to market research and project organization, and strive to become a bridge for China-Mongolia economic and trade exchange. On January 5, the board of Mongol Bank made the decision to issue ICBC a license to open a representative office in Ulaanbaatar. As stated in the current Banking Law, if a foreign bank requests to commence operations in the country, the issue must be discussed by Parliament and Cabinet. If the request is to open a representative office, the board of Mongol Bank has the authority to issue a license. Representative offices are not allowed to conduct banking operations and only serve as legal representatives of the bank. Since 2008, ING Group, Bank of China, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation have been issued licenses to operate representative offices in Mongolia. ICBC is considered the largest bank in the world in terms of its total assets and market capitalization. It ranks number one in The Banker's Top 1000 World Banks rankings, and first on the Forbes Global 2000 list of the world's biggest public companies. As of now, ICBC has established overseas institutions in 44 countries and regions worldwide, and extended its presence in 20 African countries indirectly through shares of the Standard Bank of South Africa.