ICBC to offer more services

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China - the world's biggest bank by assets - is gearing up to provide a full range of financial services for projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, a senior executive said in an interview.

The bank is hoping to capture "huge" opportunities that have presented themselves because of the opening up of an infrastructure financing gap in the countries and regions related to the program, said Zhang Hongli, vice-president of ICBC.

The bank has extended loans worth about $70 billion for more than 200 projects under the initiative, and financing for projects worth up to $400 billion is in the pipeline, he said.