A bank has become the first Chinese firm to be given approval by the US to acquire a US bank.
State owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s (ICBC) plans to take over the US subsidiary of the Bank of East Asia have been approved by the US Federal Reserve.
"It is a pretty significant step. There has been a lot of backlash about Chinese state-run companies acquiring overseas assets," Stephen Joske of Australia Super, an institutional investor in Beijing, told the BBC.
"The permission [given] to ICBC is a clear message that things may be returning to normal and that fears about Chinese state-run firms may be moderating.”
The move comes days after high-level economic talks between the US and China and a recent visit to Beijing by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
