BEIJING - STATE-OWNED China Construction Bank Corp., the country's second-largest commercial lender, said on Tuesday it has received US government approval to open its first United States branch in New York City.

Chinese banks are expanding rapidly abroad, a campaign that has continued despite turmoil roiling global financial markets. US officials promised on Friday at economic talks in Beijing to speed up licensing of Chinese bank branches.

Construction Bank said its New York branch will offer commercial lending, trade finance, foreign exchange and other business services. The branch will be its seventh outside mainland China, the bank said in a statement.

Chinese banks are flush with cash due to the country's economic boom and have largely avoided the turmoil that has battered Western institutions.

Construction Bank says it had 7 trillion yuan (S$1.5 trillion) in assets as of June 30, the last time it reported financial results.

China's biggest commercial lender, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., opened its first US branch in New York City in October. No. 3 Bank of China has long had a presence in the United States.

In September, Bank of China bought 20 per cent of Paris-based private bank La Compagnie Financiere Edmond de Rothschild. It said that was the first Chinese investment of its kind in an economy that uses Europe's euro currency. -- AP