By Mark Drajem (China Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-10 09:54

China Merchants Bank Co was cleared by the Federal Reserve Board to open a branch in New York, the first by a Chinese lender in more than 15 years, as the nation's banks line up to offer their services in the United States.

The Fed said it could approve the application because Chinese regulators have taken adequate steps to clamp down on money laundering, a key requirement for opening a US operation.

"In recent years the Chinese government has enhanced its anti-money laundering regime," the Fed said in a statement.

Chinese banks, flush with cash after raising $63 billion selling stocks in the past two years, are increasingly seeking targets overseas as the US subprime mortgage meltdown hurts financial stocks globally. China now has the world's three largest banks by market value.

China Minsheng Banking Corp, the nation's first non-State-owned bank, last month agreed to buy as much as 20 percent of UCBH Holdings Inc, the biggest bank serving the Chinese community in the US.

China Merchants, China's sixth-largest bank, applied in January to open a New York branch. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd followed with its own application in April, and China Construction Bank Corp, the country's second largest, said it plans to follow with its own bid.

Bank of China Ltd, the nation's largest foreign-exchange lender with presence in over 27 countries, is the only Chinese bank with a branch in US. Established in 1981, the bank's New York branch can offer a full range of retail and corporate banking products and services.