OREANDA-NEWS. June 05, 2014. At the recent Agricultural Bank of China Limited (ABC) sponsored China-ASEAN Cross-border RMB Business Seminar, ABC also officially opened its China-ASEAN Cross-border RMB Business Center in Nanning, Guangxi. Huang Daowei, Executive Vice Governor of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Li Zhenjiang, Vice President of ABC, delivered keynote speeches at the seminar and in a special ceremony also unveiled the nameplate for the business center.

More than 160 representatives attended the seminar, including banking counterparts from ASEAN countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, as well as representatives from key domestic enterprises. The seminar discussed hot spot issues such as the construction of pilot zones for comprehensive financial reform in border areas and cross-border RMB use in trade and investment. During the seminar, four overseas commercial banks and five domestic enterprises signed cooperation agreements on cross-border RMB service with ABC.

In his opening speech, Vice President Li Zhenjiang of ABC said that as the window and hub of China-ASEAN cooperation, China’s province of Guangxi possesses geographical advantages for developing cross-border RMB business. By establishing the China-ASEAN Cross-border RMB Business Center in Guangxi, ABC’s goals are to establish a specialized platform to serve ASEAN countries and deepen cooperation in two-way cross-border RMB flow, transactions. and exchanges of ASEAN currencies, building of a cross-border clearing system, and cross-border private finance. ABC ’s pilot zones will advance overall financial reform in border areas, improve its capability to serve customers and financial peers, and facilitate trade and investment, as part of an overall strategy to contribute to and promote economic and trade exchanges between China and ASEAN countries.

This interface with ASEAN is one of the first overseas pilot areas to carry out cross-border RMB business. Since the pilot zone’s inception in July 2009, the amount of transactions has developed rapidly between China and ASEAN countries. By year-end 2013, RMB settlement accounted for almost 30% of bilateral trade between China and ASEAN. Located at the bridgehead of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, ABC Guangxi Branch has been committed to building a “financial bridge” for border trade and has constantly innovated in cross-border RMB products. Just in the first quarter of this year, the Branch handled RMB5,178 million in cross-border RMB settlements, a year-on-year increase of RMB3,442 million or 198.25%.