Shenzhen's cross-border use of the renminbi (RMB), including payments and receipts, climbed up by 4.8% year on year to reach 3.2 trillion yuan (US$466.5 billion) in 2022, ranking third in the country again, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Shenzhen Central Sub-branch said in a press briefing Friday.
Cross-border RMB use between Shenzhen and Hong Kong hit 2.6 trillion yuan, accounting for 51.3% of cross-border use of local and foreign currencies between the two cities. RMB has been the largest cross-border settlement currency between Shenzhen and Hong Kong for three consecutive years.
By the end of 2022, a total of 1,796 enterprises had participated in the RMB settlement facilitation pilot program, an increase of 2.1 times over the end of the previous year, according to the central bank’s Shenzhen Central Sub-branch.
In terms of the cross-boundary wealth management connect (WMC) pilot scheme, 25 banks in Shenzhen had obtained qualifications by the end of January 2023, and 20,000 accounts related to the WMC scheme were opened.
Cross-border fund remittance worth 810 million yuan was handled through the pilot scheme, and two-way investment product transactions reached 480 million yuan, accounting for about one-third of the total amount of WMC business in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
In July 2022, Shenzhen further expanded the scope of piloting integrated local and foreign currency cash pool.
At present, Shenzhen has 15 large multinational corporations participating in the pilot program, with the number of such enterprises accounting for 30% in the country. The amount involved in the pilot program amounted to about US$53.4 billion.
The pilot program has increased financial revenue and saved tax costs for enterprises by about 40 million yuan, the PBOC Shenzhen Central Sub-branch said.
In terms of facilitating foreign exchange receipts and payments, 11 banks and 503 enterprises in the city had participated in the pilot program by the end of January 2023, with foreign exchange receipts and payments reaching US$99.8 billion.
Additionally, as of the end of January 2023, the cross-border RMB collection facilitation program involved 224.4 billion yuan, saving 340 million yuan for e-commerce exporters and benefiting 62,000 small and medium-sized enterprises.