Reporters' Log

Four banks to begin yuan settlement trials this month

By Yang Zhen (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-03-06 11:32

Four banks - two Chinese banks and two foreign lenders - have reportedly been selected to begin trials of a pilot program that allows the yuan to be used as the settlement currency in some regional trade.

The yuan's settlement trials could begin as soon as the National People's Congress wraps up, Shanghai Securities News quoted an unnamed source as saying. Two of the four banks selected have their headquarters in Shanghai, the newspaper reported.

At a press conference held Friday at the ongoing NPC, Zhou Xiaochuan, head of China's central bank, confirmed the pilot program would start soon but declined to elaborate.

Earlier reports indicated that Bank of China and Bank of Communications could be the Chinese lenders involved.

China's State Council, the cabinet, announced plans to begin yuan settlement trials with some economies in December 2008. The program would permit the use of the yuan in trade between Yunnan and Guangxi with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The Pearl and Yangtze River delta regions would also be permitted to use yuan for settlement for trade with Hong Kong and Macao.

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