On April 25th, with the approval of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the "Notice of the Xiamen Branch of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Launching the Pilot of High-level Opening for Cross-border Trade and Investment" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") was officially released, further meeting the facilitation needs of operating entities, optimizing the environment for cross-border trade and investment, and serving the construction of the cross-strait integration and development demonstration zone.

It is reported that the "Notice" includes a total of 8 policy contents, among which 5 are related to current account policies. On the basis of prudent and compliant banking practices, banks can provide the following facilitation services to high-quality enterprises: further facilitate the receipt and payment of foreign exchange funds for current account transactions, optimize the settlement of new types of international trade, expand the scope of settlement of trade surplus and deficit balances, exempt certain special refund registrations for goods trade beyond the deadline, and optimize the management of service trade advance payment or allocation business. There are 3 items related to capital account policies, including domestic reinvestment by foreign-invested enterprises exempt from registration, and banks directly handle foreign exchange registration for eligible non-financial enterprises borrowing foreign debts and going public overseas.

On the first day of the pilot, six banks including Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Merchants Bank, Industrial Bank, and CITIC Bank jointly handled 219 transactions for 51 enterprises under the facilitation pilot for current account transactions, with a total amount of $160 million, involving further facilitation of foreign exchange fund receipt and payment for current account transactions, optimization of new types of international trade settlement, and exemption from registration for special refunds for goods trade beyond the deadline.

In terms of capital projects, four enterprises (including three foreign-invested enterprises and one private enterprise) also enjoyed policy dividends at the earliest opportunity. The enterprises all stated that the pilot policies significantly reduced "hidden costs" and effectively improved the efficiency of cross-border investment and financing.

 

From:investxiamen.org.cn