LONDON, June 22 (Xinhua) -- China CITIC Bank launched its first overseas branch in London on Friday.

In his keynote speech at the opening ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming said the opening of the CITIC Bank London Branch marks a new development in the ever-closer financial cooperation between China and Britain.

"The opening proves that despite the challenges of protectionism and unilateralism, China will not close its door, instead, China will open its door even wider to the world," he said.

Li Qingping, chairperson and the executive director of China CITIC Bank, said that "opening the London branch will further support the bank's customers and greatly enhance cross-border service facilities to back both Chinese-funded enterprises and local British enterprises with a more comprehensive package of financial services."

China CITIC Bank was established in 1987. It has grown into a comprehensive financial group with a total asset volume of more than 6.2 trillion yuan (about 900 billion U.S. dollars), and with more than 600,000 corporate clients and over 88 million retail customers.