Chinese banks are playing a bigger role in the Middle East these days. Some of China's major state-owned lenders have been involved in significant financing deals in the region in recent months as low oil prices strain finances for both governments and businesses.

Dubai International Financial Centre is the Middle East’s banking hub where Chinese banks are witnessing impressive growth.

The big-four state owned ones have all set up shop here in recent years... including ICBC, Bank of China and ABC. By February, the four lenders made up around a quarter of all assets booked at DIFC... a total of US$21.5 billion.

The rise of Chinese banks has coincided with a plunge in oil prices. The fall in petrodollars since late 2014 has forced governments and companies here to tighten their belts and look for new sources of financing which Chinese banks have looked to profit from.

In June, ICBC gave US$1.5 billion to Saudi- Electricity Company... in one of the largest loans ever given by a Chinese bank in the Gulf.

Aside from offering debt, bilateral trade is increasingly being done in the Chinese currency. In April 2015, a yuan clearing center was set up in Qatar with a second one set to open in the UAE in the coming months.

Business between China and Gulf countries is booming with a free-trade agreement currently in the works. A move that could pave the way for China’s economic dominance in the region.