China Further Opens Up To Foreign Banks

Following the recent announcement of several crucial economic reforms by the People's Republic of China ("PRC") leadership, and eight years since the promulgation of China's Administrative Regulations on Foreign-Invested Banks (the "foreign banks regulations"), the PRC State Council issued several amendments to the foreign banks regulations, effective from January 1. These amendments further open access to the market by foreign banks through the following changes.

Foreign Invested Banks Are No Longer Required to Allocate Minimum RMB100 Million Working Capital to Their China Branches

Before the amendments, wholly foreign invested banks and Chinese–foreign jointly invested banks (collectively, "foreign invested banks") were required to unconditionally allocate at least RMB100 million (or other freely convertible currencies of equivalent value) of working capital to each of their branches in China.