SOURCE / ECONOMY
Beijing may ease cross-border remittance rules amid financial opening-up
Published: Sep 21, 2020 10:13 PM

Tourists shop at a duty-free store in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, Aug. 18, 2020. China's island province of Hainan has recorded 2.49 billion yuan (about 360 million US dollars) in duty-free shopping by tourists in July. During the period, about 384,000 tourists visited the island, up 54.1 percent year on year. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)



China's central bank and foreign exchange authority on Monday unveiled a draft proposal for public comment that includes a program to lower cross-border remittance rules for foreign institutional investors as it moves to further open up the financial sector - a move economists said will boost investors' confidence.

The People's Bank of China and State Administration of Foreign Exchange jointly announced that China will revoke the proportion limitation on foreign institutional investors' single-currency (yuan or foreign currency) cross-border remittances. 

For those who invested in the yuan as well as a foreign currency, only certain matching requirements will be imposed on foreign currency remittances. The proportion of foreign currency remittance will be relaxed from 110 percent to 120 percent. 

The plan is intended to meet foreign institutional investors' remittance needs.

"This is another step taken by China to fulfill its promise to further open up the country's financial sector," Liu Xuezhi, an economist at Bank of Communications, told the Global Times on Monday.

China in recent years has vowed to further open up its financial sector, and it has announced many regulations and laws to ensure that this goal is achieved. In October 2019, for example, Beijing amended the regulation on the administration of foreign-funded insurance companies and the regulation on the administration of foreign-funded banks.

As a result, many foreign institutional investors have flooded into China's financial sector, including securities, insurance and futures.

"Deepening the financial sector open up in China has become a trend... this latest measure is expected to effectively provide more convenience for foreign investors' remittances, and thus boost their confidence," Liu said.