OREANDA-NEWS. October 21, 2014. The free trade account business of Agricultural Bank of China Limited (ABC) was officially launched, after ABC’s risk prudential compliance evaluation and relevant systems of the separate accounting business in Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) were reviewed and accepted by the People’s Bank of China.
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ABC indicated that all eligible FTZ entities and overseas institutions could open and use free trade account with the institutions authorized by its Shanghai Branch. FTZ entities and overseas institutions can conduct cross-border funds settlement business under current account and direct investment through free trade account. They can also conduct a full set of businesses including deposit, loan, payment settlement, international business, financial market and settlement and sales of foreign exchanges in the FTZ.

To successfully launch the business, ABC established an FTZ separate accounting system within a short time. It built an FTZ separate accounting system with the body part of BoEing core business system, supported by more than ten internal systems such as FBIS and GTS. The Head Office of ABC also granted a special authorization to Shanghai Branch to conduct the FTZ separate accounting business and laid down an advanced and complete internal authorization management measures.

It is learnt that the opening of free trade account is the core content of the Opinions on Financial Support to the Development of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone issued by the People’s Bank of China. It is an important institutional arrangement for commercial banks to explore the exchange convenience in financing and investment, further expand the financial market and prevent financial risks. ABC will take the opportunity brought by the separate accounting business in the FTZ, focus on regional features, and make full advantages of the policies for the FTZ. It will enhance its risk management and launch more competitive financial products to provide stronger support for increasing free trade investment and financing activities in the FTZ. In this way, ABC aims to facilitate the upgrading of the industry structure and the development of real economy within the FTZ.