China Merchants Bank, one of China’s leading commercial banking groups, will on Thursday announce the opening of an office in London as the first step towards setting up a European subsidiary.

Ma Weihua, chief executive, told the Financial Times he hoped it would “not be too long” before CMB secured authorisation from the Financial Services Authority to set up the subsidiary. China Construction Bank, the world’s second largest bank by market capitalisation, established its European headquarters in Canary Wharf in June.