The National Bank of Cambodia yesterday granted Industrial and Commercial Bank of China a financial business licence, according to a report on aastocks, a Chinese stocks news service.

ICBC, the largest bank in the world by market capitalisation, announced in late September that it would open a branch in Phnom Penh. Officials and banking insiders alike had hailed the move as a major facilitator of Chinese investment, the Post reported in September.

In Channy, president and CEO of ACLEDA Bank, said at the time that banks such as ICBC were well suited to finance large-scale infrastructure projects desperately needed in the Kingdom.