Dutch bank ABN AMRO NV has got the official approval to set up its branch in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality this year, which would be the fifth foreign bank allowed to start business in the city.

The bank got the permission from the China Banking Regulatory Commission recently, said officials with the Chongqing bureau of the commission.

ABN AMRO will engage mainly in individual and commercial investment management service, targeting high-income people and medium and small-scale industries with good financial records.

It would be the fourth branch of the bank in China after Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen. The bank has another three offices in Guangzhou, Wuhan and Tianjin.

ABN AMRO, one of the world's largest banks founded in 1824 and based in Amsterdam, started business in China in 1903.

(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2006)