China's four large banks have been approved to set up branches in the Xiongan New Area of Hebei province, according to the website of China's Banking Regulatory Commission.

This is the first group of banking institutions that have received permission since the creation of the area was in April.

The banks are the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), the Bank of China (BOC) and the China Construction Bank (CCB).

All of them are State-owned banks.

They were approved by the commission's Hebei office last Monday and the approval was unveiled Tuesday.

The preparation work should be done in six days during which no financial services are allowed, according to the website.

"It is an important milestone in the development of the area's financial industry," said the commission's Hebei office.

It added that financial services in Xiongan will be further improved to meet the financial needs involved in planning and constructing the area.

Xiongan New Area, about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing, covers the three counties of Xiongxian, Rongcheng and Anxin in Hebei's Baoding.

Since the creation of the new area, the commission's Hebei office has carried out a survey on all the banks in the three counties, except for some small financial institutes in the villages, in an effort to improve the efficiency of their services.