OREANDA-NEWS. December 09, 2014. The PBOC announced its official authorization to ICBC (Canada), a subsidiary of ICBC, to act as the RMB clearing bank in Toronto, which was the first time the Chinese central bank had ever designated an RMB clearing bank in the North America region.

Thus far, ICBC has had four institutions designated by the PBOC to be the RMB clearing bank in Singapore, Luxembourg, Qatar and Canada respectively, and become the first commercial bank with RMB clearing qualifications spanning Asia, Europe and North America. This has allowed the Bank to formally establish a truly global 7*24 nonstop RMB trading and clearing system, and paved the way for further facilitating the cross-border use of RMB.

Both situated on the Pacific coasts, China and Canada are highly complementary in economic terms. In recent years, with the rapid development of trade and economic ties between the two countries, China has become the second biggest trading partner of Canada. According to the statistics of China Customs, bilateral trade in 2013 amounted to USD 54.4 billion, up 6% year on year.

There are also increasing personnel exchanges between the two countries, and statistics show around 1.5 million overseas and ethnic Chinese are now living in Canada. In 2013, the number of Chinese students studying in Canada increased by 2.25 times as compared with 2006. Since the two nations entered into the ADS agreement in 2010, China has become a key source of overseas visitors and tourists to Canada at a faster pace, which presages huge potential in demand for RMB-related financial services. The establishment of a local RMB clearing bank will help further lower the costs of trade and services, and promote deeper and broader cooperation between the two countries.

ICBC took a controlling stake in the Bank of East Asia (Canada) in 2010, and renamed it ICBC (Canada), which has since become a key platform for the Bank to serve the Canadian market. At the same time, by realizing business coordination among themselves, ICBC (Canada), New York Branch, ICBC (USA) and ICBCFS have jointly formed a service network in the North America region. So far, ICBC (Canada)'s RMB business line has covered individual, corporate and institutional clients, and can provide a series of RMB services including RMB exchange, RMB documents/guarantees, RMB deposits & remittances, RMB trade finance, overseas loans, offshore market borrowings, and RMB foreign exchange settlement and sale. In 2013, ICBC (Canada) and UnionPay International jointly issued the first UnionPay dual-currency (CAD+RMB) credit cards in North America, and the subsidiary became the cooperative bank in an RMB 2.5-billion dim sum bond issue by the provincial government of British Columbia, with its cross-border RMB service capacity consistently enhanced.

An ICBC official said that since the launch of the cross-border RMB business pilot in the second half of 2009, the Bank has been committed to extending its advantages in RMB business from home to abroad, consistently boosting its global financial service capacities, improving its global RMB clearing network, and shaping an efficient cross-border RMB business platform with diverse channels and rich product varieties. During the five years, the Bank has posted an annualized average growth rate of over 200% in cross-border RMB business volume. Now designated as the RMB clearing bank in Toronto, ICBC (Canada) will contribute to the cross-border use of RMB and bilateral ties between the two countries, and promote the further growth and competitiveness of the Bank's cross-border RMB business.