ICBC or the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China is expanding its business in the United States of America which can be good for the office sector of the Manhattan market.

China’s number one bank based in Beijing has taken a lease of ten thousand square feet at 1663 Broadway, close to the fiftieth street as a result of the latest acquisition deal with the broker-dealer which just squared up. These facts were given by sources aware of the matter.

In October 2008, ICBC opened its branch in New York. It already has taken the entire twentieth floor of Trump Tower on lease for ten years which has an area of fourteen thousand square feet.

Till date the branch of the bank has kept its primary focus on giving loans including some loans to the borrowers from commercial real estate sector.

At present ICBC and many other Chinese banks has started showing its muscles in the global market.

According to people aware of the matter, on Friday the acquisition of the Prime Dealer Services unit of Fortis Securities had been squared up. The unit was controlled by BNP Paribas SA, of France earlier.

The sources stated that under the symbolic one dollar acquisition, the Chinese bank can tread into the broker-dealer market of the United States.

The terms and conditions of the new lease of the 1663 Broadway, which is owned by Paramount Group Inc., were not available.

But the deal pointed out that the building got benefited for the second time within few months by the expansion of any foreign banking institution. Allianz Global Investors’ North American headquarters, in the month of August made an announcement of acquiring two hundred and thirteen thousand square feet of that building.