When the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China became the first Chinese bank to open a subsidiary in the Middle East, it was touted as a significant step towards expanding overseas and promoting an “internationalisation strategy”.

Yet market watchers could have been forgiven for thinking the timing was inopportune. In spite of rapidly growing trade ties between the oil-rich Gulf and energy-hungry China over the past decade, ICBC opened its office only in October 2008. That was just one month after the collapse of Lehman Brothers – an event that dramatically shook confidence across the region and dashed notions of the Gulf decoupling from the global economic crisis.

However, Tian Zhiping, ICBC’s president for the Middle East, seems relieved to have missed the excesses that characterised those years, arguing that the bank has enjoyed the advantage of starting in the region with a clean slate.

“We are just a newcomer – we didn’t have any burden,” he says. “Last year, so many local banks and even western banks, they lacked money, and [were] even maybe in crisis, so we found many opportunities.”

For ICBC’s Middle East operations, last year was a period of steady growth and expansion – a contrast to other banks in the region that have been shedding staff and tightening credit lines as their non-performing loans have risen.

ICBC’s loan book grew from zero to about $500m last year, while off-balance sheet activities, mainly letters of guarantee, were valued at about $1bn, Mr Tian says. Its net profits for the year were approximately $3m. The bank expects to open a branch soon in Abu Dhabi, the wealthy capital of the United Arab Emirates, to go with those operating in Qatar and Dubai, and Mr Tian hopes to double business this year.

Once he is satisfied ICBC has established itself in these markets, it will look to expand gradually throughout the region.

ICBC could apply for a licence to operate in Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil producer and the Middle East’s biggest economy, this year or next, says Mr Tian. He also expects other Chinese banks to follow ICBC’s lead into the Middle East, on the basis that trade between the region and China will only grow.

China has taken over from the US as the largest exporter to the Middle East, with trade between the region and Asia growing more than five times between 2001 and 2008, rising from $110bn to $600bn, according to HSBC.

And Chinese companies are “knocking on” ICBC’s doors in search of information about Arab markets, says Mr Tian.

“We need each other. For this side – Gulf countries – they are trying to develop their countries, they have different kinds of plans for the future and they need different kinds of companies to come here to invest, to construct, to take part in these plans,” he says. “For Chinese companies . . .  they need new markets to sell these projects and the Mena [Middle East and North Africa] region is a very big market because they have money and maybe they need our Chinese products so the trade will be booming.”

Still, Mr Tian, 40, who was previously vice-president of ICBC’s Sichuan branch, which has 18,000 staff and total assets of about $40bn, is keen to strike a cautious note as he looks forward.

He is also at pains to say it takes time “to understand each other”, part of the reason for ICBC’s late arrival in the Middle East.

The travails of Dubai World, the struggling conglomerate that is seeking to restructure $22bn of debts, have also acted as a warning. “We are watching the Dubai World event – what does it mean for the region?” he says.