Bank of Taiwan to offer Renminbi settlement

Customers can save about 1% in the cost of yuan settlement services.

The Bank of Taiwan (BOT) will begin yuan settlement services with the Bank of China (Hong Kong) by the end of this month, lowering costs for people wishing to buy yuan notes, BOT chairwoman Susan Chang said on Monday.

The BOT signed a yuan clearing service agreement with the Hong Kong arm of the Bank of China in late July after the People’s Bank of China appointed the Bank of China to handle yuan transactions for Taiwanese banks through its Hong Kong unit on July 13.

At present, Taiwanese banks trade yuan from HSBC and the Bank of America in Hong Kong. The new arrangement will allow local financial institutions to buy the Chinese currency in cash from the Taiwanese state-controlled lender rather than through the two foreign banks.

Chang said that the launch of the new services would reduce transaction costs for Taiwanese banks by eliminating foreign banks as intermediaries, adding that the public could expect to buy yuan cash notes for a lower price.

View the full story in Taipei Times.