Macao banks ready to start RMB services
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-10-21 09:35

The Bank of China Macao Branch (BOC Macao), the designated Renminbi (RMB) clearing bank in Macao, announced Wednesday that it has got everything ready to start the business with the first group of participating banks in early November.

Zhang Hongyi, General Manager of the BOC Macao, said that 16 banks out of Macao's 24 banks will be the first group of banks to offer the local personal RMB services in November.

Under a memorandum signed here between the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the Macao Monetary Authority in August, local banks in Macao can provide deposit, remittance, exchange and credit card services of RMB. The authorization will make Macao the second place after Hong Kong to offer an official channel for RMB notes circulating outside China's mainland.

Zhang said that at the first stage, BOC Macao will only provide deposit, remittance and exchange of RMB. The credit card services of RMB will come along later.

The launch of the RMB services will bring convenience for personnel flows between the mainland and Macao, which is conducive in boosting Macao's economy, said Zhang.

Once the service is launched, individual RMB account customers of all the 16 participating banks, who must be legal Macao residency card holders, can exchange no more than 20,000 yuan RMB per person per day with Macao pataca or other currencies, or remit no more than 50,000 yuan RMB per person per day.

Zhang said that the RMB services would bring the circulation of RMB under the control of the banking system, which is conducive in monitoring the currency in Macao.

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