China Construction Bank (CCB) announced on Thursday that it had won the approval of Britain's Financial Services Authority to establish a subsidiary in London.

This is the first subsidiary bank for China's second largest commercial lender in Europe.

The proposed subsidiary would engage in deposit-taking, lending, trade finance, foreign exchange dealing and other banking services, said the Beijing-based bank.

The CCB also operates six overseas branches, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Johannesburg and Seoul.

Earlier this week, it got the green light from the U.S. Federal Reserve to establish a branch in New York.

As one of China's "big four" state-owned banks, the CCB's total assets topped 7.3 trillion yuan (1.1 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of September, according to its third quarter report.

(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2008)