Business / Markets

Foreign banks will need niche to prosper in FTZ

By Wu Yiyao (China Daily) Updated: 2014-03-28 08:45

"As a leading bank in Asia, DBS is committed to leveraging our strong Asian connectivity and insights from Singapore and Hong Kong to fully support the development of the zone," said Ge.

Innovative cross-border yuan businesses have been created, including cross-border yuan cash pooling and centralized cross-border transactions in the yuan.

These solutions mark another milestone in the development of the zone's financial services industry. Banks including Citibank and HSBC Holdings Plc are offering such services.

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Enterprises within the zone have benefited from these financial innovations. Saint-Gobain SA is among the first group of multinational corporations to implement some of these solutions in the FTZ, according to HSBC.

Saint-Gobain makes and distributes building materials. It also has operations in energy conservation and environmental protection.

Since entering China in 1985, Saint-Gobain has invested more than 2 billion euros ($2.79 billion) in the market.

Using a subsidiary in the FTZ, the company can centralize payments and collections for merchandise and services trade settlement, along with other current account items, thus improving the use of renminbi settlements within the group.

It's also been able to make its cash management more efficient within Asia.

Centralized payments and collections are efficient cash management solutions for multinational companies, which need to manage accounts payable and receivable among many subsidiaries, bankers noted.

Regulations in the FTZ enable such companies to consolidate and offset accounts payable and receivable in a single transaction.

Centralized cross-border yuan payments and collections will bring significant benefits to clients by simplifying their payment processes, reducing the number of transactions they must conduct and unlocking liquidity.