By Global Times – Reuters Source:Agencies Published: 2013-3-17 23:18:01
China has eased strict cross-border currency rules for 13 multi-national companies (MNCs) including Samsung and Shell in a scheme that further cranks open its tightly controlled capital account, financial sector sources told Reuters Friday.
The experiment, which has not been publicly announced, gives firms freedom to shift funds worth up to 30 percent of their invested capital in China across its borders, bankers directly involved in the scheme said.
"It's a way of opening up the capital account which helps companies deal with the real flows of the economy," Michael Vrontamitis, head of product management of transaction banking for East Asia at Standard Chartered in Hong Kong, told Reuters.
Six of the firms are Shell, Samsung, Intel Inc, Alcatel-Lucent, Schneider Electric and Caterpillar Inc, sources said.