WELLINGTON - China's biggest bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), has become the 23rd registered bank to operate in New Zealand, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) announced Tuesday.

"ICBC New Zealand Limited is a fully-owned subsidiary of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited," said a brief statement from the RBNZ.

A link on the RBNZ website showed ICBC New Zealand had reserved the website domain, icbcnz.com, but it is not yet active.

ICBC New Zealand counted former RBNZ governor Don Brash among its directors, the BusinessDesk news service reported.

ICBC previously conducted its New Zealand business through its branch in Sydney, Australia.