“Hungary is tightening its relations with the world’s largest bank based on assets”, Minister of Finance Mihály Varga told the press after concluding a strategic cooperation agreement with President of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Gu Shu.

“With its total assets of some four thousand billion U.S. dollars, ICBC, which was founded in 1984, is the world’ largest bank; it has 426 branch offices in 47 countries and regions and the bank is present in 15 European countries, in addition to which it is also considering opening a regional office in Budapest”, the Minister highlighted.

Mr. Varga said the bilateral memorandum of understanding concluded today, the goal of which is the development of comprehensive and long-term strategic cooperation between Hungary and China based on common interests, is an important milestone. “According to the document, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is prepared to actively cooperate with Hungary with relation to the issuing of renminbi bonds, and will be supporting cross-border renminbi business relations and payment transactions, and the financing of Hungarian infrastructure projects. In addition, the ICBC will also be able to develop relations with the Hungarian banks involved concerning artificial intelligence, cloud-based solutions and other digital development projects”, the Minister underlined. “In the interests of facilitating Hungarian-Chinese transactions and funding the preferential development projects of the One Belt, One Road initiative, the ICBC is also considering the advantages of opening an office in Budapest”, he added. The parties agreed that the presence of ICBC in Hungary and Central Europe will further reinforce Hungary’s role as a regional financial centre.

(Ministry of Finance)