Westpac sees 'fantastic opportunity' investing in Chinese market

"The China-Australia FTA gives unprecedented access to Australian services companies into the Chinese market," McKenzie said. "Australian education, tourism, telecommunications, healthcare, financial services, can grant access into China, either by partnering up with Chinese companies, or in certain situations being able to access those markets directly."

Resulting from bilateral FTA, the Australian government expects study-related travel to grow strongly. Last year, the Australian government changed visa restrictions allowing Chinese secondary school students to study in Australia's public school system, resulting in a 25 percent increase of enrollments in New South Wales (NSW). The continued educational and fiscal engagement between China and Australia has been facilitated by the strength of the relationship.

McKenzie said this strength is what allowed both governments to respond to market forces, making Sydney the next renminbi hub.

"When we talk to a lot of our clients, in Australia, they are only transacting with China," McKenzie said. "When they talk to their suppliers in China, there is an absolute interest in being able to invoice and receive payment in renminbi."

McKenzie said it was an important step in China slowly starting to open up the internationalization of its currency for global trade.

"In a lot of ways Australia is being quite well served because three years ago Westpac in China was awarded a market maker license for Australian dollar/yuan conversion," McKenzie said.

The Shanghai free trade zone was established in late 2013 as a pilot for the financial and economic reforms the Chinese leadership wanted to introduce, giving what McKenzie said a lot of positive initiatives have been implemented for both China and Australia.

"The negative list is by way of an example whereby it is now a lot easier for our Australian clients who may be wanting to enter the china market to be able to do it through the shanghai free trade zone."

While the Reserve Bank of Australia said the service sector investment in China will hopefully kick-start Australia's sluggish economy, McKenzie said the China-Australia FTA will hopefully see more investment in Australia coming from China.

"The threshold for investment has been given at the same level as Australia has granted the United States in the Australia-US free trade agreement."

The Chinese investment into Australia over the past decade has increased Chinese understanding of the Australian investment climate. McKenzie said this has resulted in very successful Chinese investments, which provide a foundation for investment under China-Australia FTA.

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