The authorities in China are thinking about setting up a non-bank money exchange outlet in Shanghai as the country pushes for free conversion of the renminbi into foreign currencies, said a government source yesterday.

Once approved the company would be the first in the country to provide foreign currency exchange services. These are currently confined to Chinese commercial lenders.
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According to a report by the China Securities Journal last weekend the first money exchange company is set to open in early February in the city's Pudong New Area.

"The stakeholder of the soon-to-be-established conversion company is a prestigious state-owned enterprise in Shanghai with registered capital of 10 million yuan," said the newspaper. They quoted an unidentified "authoritative source".

"The money exchange company would keep a large amount of foreign currencies on hand and customers won't have difficulties if they need larger sums of foreign currencies as they do now in commercial banks," the source was quoted as saying.

A Pudong government official told China Daily yesterday that the nation's authorities had been preparing to set up the company for months. "It's regarded as an important innovation in the financial sector," he said.

Initially authorities wanted to build the company as a joint venture, the source said. He observed that the decision wasn't yet concrete. "The central bank has yet to approve the company set-up," he said.

The domestic-listed Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone Development Co Ltd are rumored to hold a majority stake in the firm. Its board secretary Bi Hailin, however, said yesterday she wasn't aware of the issue.

The report said the company would offer two-way exchange services while the renminbi is exchangeable with the US dollar, Japanese yen, euro, Australian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Macao pataca, Canadian dollar and Swiss franc.

Foreigners would also be able to change money at the outlet avoiding the long queues and language barriers of domestic banks.

Money exchange facilities are currently available at major airports, hotels and department stores for those holding foreign exchange bills.

In addition to providing easier access to money exchange the company would also help eliminate gangs illegally profiting from the sale of foreign currencies, the report quoted the source as saying.

The company has also hired veterans familiar with foreign exchange transactions from financial institutions such as Bank of China.

In mid-January the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, announced that the country's foreign exchange reserves had reached US$1.0663 trillion by the end of 2006. This is a surge of 30.22 percent on the previous year.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange ruled that from February individuals could purchase as much as US$50,000 in foreign currency per year. Currently the figure is US$20,000.

(China Daily February 1, 2007)