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Shanghai's corporate free trade accounts cross-border fund transfers top USD19.7 billion 2026-07-30
Cross-Border fund receipts and payments under the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone's pilot program for the functional upgrade of corporate free trade accounts have exceeded CNY133 billion (USD19.7 billion), with the first digital yuan transfer handled this month.
The core breakthrough of the pilot program is making free transactions of funds between free trade and overseas accounts a reality, Shi Jiandong, deputy director of the macro prudential management department of the People's Bank of China's Shanghai head office, said at a press conference yesterday. This is an important measure by the central bank to deepen the institutional opening-up of cross-border fund flow management and explore capital account convertibility in the FTZ, Shi added.
Free trade accounts are an optional convenient channel opened by the FTZ for companies with cross-border business needs that can be regarded as a buffer account between firms' overseas trading counterparties and their domestic accounts. The goal of the pilot program, launched on Dec. 5, is to explore the possibility of free receipts and payments of funds between free trade and overseas accounts, with funds flowing into ordinary domestic accounts still subject to a series of foreign exchange management rules.
Upgraded free trade accounts can handle cross-border fund transfers with firms' payment instructions, boosting the convenience of cross-border trade, investment, and financing. Eleven banks and 42 high-quality companies have participated in the pilot program, including state-owned enterprises, foreign firms, and private companies from the auto, modern agriculture, semiconductors, and other sectors.
The program's coverage has extended from traditional goods trade to services, offshore, and processing trade, as well as capital-based businesses such as cross-border financing and overseas lending, effectively meeting the diversified cross-border financial service needs of various business entities, Shi pointed out.
Regarding the first digital yuan payment service, a bank under the pilot program processed such a payment for cross-border freight for a company also under the program through a digital currency bridge, meeting the firm's demand for improving the efficiency and security of fund transfer, according to Shi.
Via the program, Shanghai aims to explore the free cross-border fund receipts and payments of free trade accounts under the premise of controllable risks, promote institutional opening-up of cross-border capital flows, conduct stress tests on capital account convertibility, serve the development of the city into a global financial hub and international trade center, and gather replicable pilot experience for high-level financial opening-up nationwide.
The core breakthrough of the pilot program is making free transactions of funds between free trade and overseas accounts a reality, Shi Jiandong, deputy director of the macro prudential management department of the People's Bank of China's Shanghai head office, said at a press conference yesterday. This is an important measure by the central bank to deepen the institutional opening-up of cross-border fund flow management and explore capital account convertibility in the FTZ, Shi added.
Free trade accounts are an optional convenient channel opened by the FTZ for companies with cross-border business needs that can be regarded as a buffer account between firms' overseas trading counterparties and their domestic accounts. The goal of the pilot program, launched on Dec. 5, is to explore the possibility of free receipts and payments of funds between free trade and overseas accounts, with funds flowing into ordinary domestic accounts still subject to a series of foreign exchange management rules.
Upgraded free trade accounts can handle cross-border fund transfers with firms' payment instructions, boosting the convenience of cross-border trade, investment, and financing. Eleven banks and 42 high-quality companies have participated in the pilot program, including state-owned enterprises, foreign firms, and private companies from the auto, modern agriculture, semiconductors, and other sectors.
The program's coverage has extended from traditional goods trade to services, offshore, and processing trade, as well as capital-based businesses such as cross-border financing and overseas lending, effectively meeting the diversified cross-border financial service needs of various business entities, Shi pointed out.
Regarding the first digital yuan payment service, a bank under the pilot program processed such a payment for cross-border freight for a company also under the program through a digital currency bridge, meeting the firm's demand for improving the efficiency and security of fund transfer, according to Shi.
Via the program, Shanghai aims to explore the free cross-border fund receipts and payments of free trade accounts under the premise of controllable risks, promote institutional opening-up of cross-border capital flows, conduct stress tests on capital account convertibility, serve the development of the city into a global financial hub and international trade center, and gather replicable pilot experience for high-level financial opening-up nationwide.
Source:Yicai Global
