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As shown in the statistics of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), in July 2025, the amount of foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks was RMB 1670.0 billion and RMB 1507.0 billion, respectively. During January to July 2025, the accumulative amount of foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks was RMB 9883.5 billion and RMB 9902.0 billion, respectively. In the US dollar terms, in July 2025, the amount of foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks was USD 233.6 billion and USD 210.8 billion, respectively. During January to July 2025, the accumulative amount of foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks was USD 1376.8 billion and USD 1379.3 billion, respectively. In July 2025, the amount of cross-border receipts and payments by non-banking sectors was RMB 4935.7 billion and RMB 4990.9 billion, respectively. During January to July 2025, the accumulative amount of cross-border receipts and payments by non-banking sectors was RMB 32670.5 billion and RMB 31811.6 billion, respectively. In the US dollar terms, in July 2025, the amount of cross-border receipts and payments by non-banking sectors was USD 690.4 billion and USD 698.1 billion, respectively. During January to July 2025, the accumulative amount of cross-border receipts and payments by non-banking sectors was USD 4551.0 billion and USD 4431.5 billion, respectively. Addendum: Glossary and relevant definitions Balance of payments (BOP) refers to all economic transactions between residents and non-residents. Foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks refers to settlement and sale transaction that bank executes for customers and for the banks themselves, including statistic data on settlements of forward contracts for foreign exchange settlement and sales and the exercises of option, and excluding the transactions in the interbank foreign exchange market. The statistic reporting date of Foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks should be the trade day of the Foreign exchange settlement and sales transaction. By definition, foreign exchange settlement means that foreign exchange holders sell foreign exchange to banks, and foreign exchange sales means that banks sell foreign exchange to foreign exchange buyers. The newly signed contract amount of forward foreign exchange settlement and sales refers to the binding forward contract between a bank and its client that predetermines foreign exchange currency, amount, exchange rate and tenor which to be executed upon maturity. The unwind amount of forward foreign exchange settlement and sales refers to, where client is unable to perform the original forward contract due to change in its real demand, client to fully or partially close its forward position by executing another deal with opposite direction to the original contract. The rolling amount of forward foreign exchange settlement and sales refers to client to adjust the settlement date of original contract due to change in its real demand. The outstanding amount of forward foreign exchange settlement and sales by the end of the current period refers to the total amount of forward contracts accumulated from all non-matured forward contracts with client. The net Delta exposure of outstanding options refers to the implied foreign exchange spot risk exposure from outstanding option contracts that bank executed with client. The cross-border receipts and payments by non-banking sectors refers to the receipts and payments between domestic non-banking sectors (including institutional and individual residents) and non-residents through domestic banks, excluding cash transactions and bank’s own cross-border receipts and payments. In particular, the statistics includes cross-border receipts and payments between non-banking sectors and non-residents through domestic banks (including RMB and foreign currency), and domestic receipts and payments between non-banking sectors and non-residents through domestic banks (temporarily excluding domestic receipts and payments in RMB between individual/institutional residents and non-resident individuals). Data are collected when customers conduct receipts and payments with non-resident counterparties at domestic banks. Specifically, the receipts refer to funds received by non-banking sectors from non-residents via domestic banks; the payments refer to funds paid by non-banking sectors to non-residents via domestic banks. 2025-08-15/en/2025/0815/2324.html
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According to the statistics of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), the Chinese foreign exchange market (excluding foreign currency pairs, the same below) recorded total transactions of RMB 28.28 trillion (equivalent to USD 3.96 trillion) in July 2025. In terms of markets, the transactions volume of client market was RMB 4.06 trillion (equivalent to USD 0.57 trillion), and the transactions volume of interbank market was RMB 24.22 trillion (equivalent to USD 3.39 trillion). In terms of products, the cumulative transactions volume of the spot market was RMB 9.47 trillion (equivalent to USD 1.33 trillion), and that of the derivatives market was RMB 18.81 trillion (equivalent to USD 2.63 trillion). From January to July 2025, a total of RMB 179.15 trillion (equivalent to USD 24.96 trillion) was traded in the Chinese foreign exchange market. 2025-08-29/en/2025/0829/2326.html
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According to the statistics by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), by the end of February 2025, China’s foreign exchange reserves totaled USD 3.2272 trillion, up by USD 18.2 billion or 0.57% from the end of January 2025. In February 2025, the US dollar index fell, driven by the monetary policies and expectations of major central banks, along with macro policies and economic data of major economies, while global financial asset prices exhibited mixed performance. China's foreign exchange reserves increased this month due to the combined effects of currency translation and changes in asset prices. China’s economy is underpinned by a stable foundation, multiple advantages, strong resilience, and great potential, which will support the sustained basic stability of the scale of foreign exchange reserves. 2025-03-07/en/2025/0307/2331.html
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According to the statistics by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), by the end of January 2025, China’s foreign exchange reserves totaled USD 3.2090 trillion, up by USD 6.7 billion or 0.21% from the end of December 2024. In January 2025, the US dollar index fell, driven by the monetary policies and expectations of major central banks, along with macroeconomic data, while global financial asset prices saw an overall increase. China’s foreign exchange reserves increased this month due to the combined effects of currency translation and changes in asset prices. The fundamentals of China’s economy that will sustain long-term growth remain unchanged, which will support the sustained basic stability of the scale of foreign exchange reserves. 2025-02-07/en/2025/0207/2330.html
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According to the statistics by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), by the end of July 2025, China's foreign exchange reserves totaled USD 3.2922 trillion, down by USD 25.2 billion or 0.76% from the end of June 2025. In July 2025, driven by factors such as macroeconomic data, monetary policies, and expectations of major economies, the US dollar index increased, and global financial asset prices exhibited mixed performance. China’s foreign exchange reserves decreased this month due to the combined effects of currency translation and changes in asset prices. China’s economy is underpinned by a stable foundation, multiple advantages, strong resilience, and great potential. The fundamentals sustaining China’s long-term growth remain unchanged, which will support the sustained basic stability of the scale of foreign exchange reserves. 2025-08-07/en/2025/0807/2329.html
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China Balance of Payment Report(2024) 2025-08-28/en/2025/0828/2325.html
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Recently, a meeting was held in Beijing by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) to circulate information about the situation regarding inspections of the foreign exchange businesses operated by banks. Deng Xianhong, deputy administrator of the SAFE, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. Representatives from 21 Chinese-funded banks and 7 foreign-funded banks attended the meeting. It was stressed at the meeting that due to the drastic changes in the domestic and international economic and financial environments, the SAFE has taken active steps to prevent risks from abnormal cross-border fund flows and to crack down strongly on various types of violations of the foreign exchange laws and regulations. During the past two years, the SAFE carried out in succession a series of special inspections throughout the country of the foreign exchange businesses operated by banks. The results show that the designated foreign exchange banks have enhanced their awareness of regulatory compliance and risk prevention and have made improvements to comply with the regulations. But it was also discovered that some banks are still operating in breach of the foreign exchange regulations. The meeting circulated information about the banks violations of the regulations with respect to the operation of foreign exchange businesses. Typical examples of violations include: failure to fulfill the obligation to examine authenticity when handling agent businesses, violating the regulations for the administration of foreign exchange accounts, declaration of the balance of payments, capital fund and settlement and sales of exchange by individuals; violations of the regulations with regard to external debt, the comprehensive position of exchange settlement and sales, capital conversions of home and foreign currencies, and so forth, when handling foreign exchange businesses. Meanwhile, there are some specific phenomena in bank operations that require attention. These are: the constant low-level of operations of the comprehensive position by some banks, the hyper-normal increase in foreign exchange loans by some banks, and the increase in the number of interest arbitrage trade financing products by some banks. These violations can be attributed to three factors: the first is that some banks are weak in their awareness of regulatory compliance and driven by profit-making motives, some banks have deliberately lowered standards to examine authenticity; the second is that the internal control mechanisms of some banks are still imperfect, and their capability to execute their management system is weak; the third is that since the outbreak of the global financial crisis, some banks, driven by profit-making motives, have increasingly focused on business expansion and have overlooked regulatory compliance in their business operations. Some representatives of the banks spoke at the meeting. They introduced their operations of foreign exchange business and some specific measures for enhancing the construction of internal control systems, optimizing foreign exchange business procedures, upgrading relevant techniques, and so on. They also made some suggestions about further refining foreign exchange administration policies, promoting policy dissemination and training, strengthening communications between the SAFE and banks, as well as other foreign-related economic entities. The meeting established the requirement that all banks shall conscientiously follow the concept of operating prudently and developing in a scientific manner. Banks are required to actively undertake their social responsibilities and to operate in strict compliance with the policies on foreign exchange administration. Looking into the future, on the one hand the SAFE will continue to uphold a people-oriented philosophy, strive to improve the quality of services, achieve the Five Transformations, and take practical measures to facilitate the operations of banks, enterprises, and individuals. On the other hand, efforts will be made to constantly refine foreign exchange administration policies, to enhance statistics, monitoring, and analysis, to strengthen foreign exchange inspections, to adopt a combination of inspections both on a regular and irregular basis, to constantly expand the scope of inspections, to increase the frequency of inspections, to further intensify efforts to punish violations of the foreign exchange laws and regulations, to effectively check illegal foreign exchange transactions, such as the inflow of hot money, and to promote the healthy and stable development of the foreign-related economy and finance. 2010-07-29/en/2010/0729/942.html
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The branches and foreign exchange administrative departments of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange in all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and the branches of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange in Shenzhen, Dalian, Qingdao, Xiamen, and Ningbo, all Chinese-funded designated foreign exchange banks: Since the Measures for the Assessment of the BanksImplementation of the Provisions on Foreign Exchange Administration came into force on August 1, 2009, they have played a satisfactory role in encouraging banks to implement the provisions on foreign exchange administration and in promoting regulatory compliance and lawful business operations by banks. To further promote smooth progress in the assessment work and to make this work more scientific and fair, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange has amended the Measures for the Assessment of the BanksImplementation of the Provisions on Foreign Exchange Administration (see Annex, hereinafter referred to as the Measures). You are hereby notified of the relevant matters as follows: I. After receiving this Circular, all branches and foreign exchange administrative departments of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange shall immediately forward this Circular to the central sub-branches, sub-branches, urban commercial banks, rural commercial banks, wholly foreign-funded banks, Chinese-foreign equity joint venture banks, branches of foreign banks, and rural cooperative financial institutions within their respective jurisdictions, complete as soon as possible the operational training for the central sub-branches and sub-branches within their respective jurisdictions, and, in strict accordance with the Measures, carry out fair and just assessments of the banks within their respective jurisdictions. II. All designated Chinese-funded foreign exchange banks shall forward this Circular to their branches as soon as possible, earnestly implement the relevant requirements of the Measures, and conduct their various businesses in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations. III. From the date of issuance of this Circular, the Circular of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Issuing the Measures for the Assessment of the BanksImplementation of the Provisions on Foreign Exchange Administration (Huifa No.33 [2009]) shall be abolished. Assessments of the banks implementation of the provisions on foreign exchange administration in 2010 shall be governed by the relevant provisions in these Measures. If you have any problems during implementation of these Measures, please report them to the relevant departments of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange in a timely manner. Tel: 010-68402129 (General Affairs Department), 010-68402464 (Balance of Payments Department), 010-68402280 (Current Account Administration Department), 010-68402366 (Capital Account Administration Department), 010-68402361 (Supervision and Inspection Department). FILE: Appendix 1Contents and Scoring Criteria for the Assessments of the BanksImplementation of the Provisions on Foreign Exchange Administration FILE: Appendix 2Detailed List on the Assessment of the Banks' Implementation of the Provisions on Foreign Exchange Administration FILE: Measures for the Assessment of the BanksImplementation of the Provisions on Foreign Exchange Administration 2010-08-06/en/2010/0806/947.html
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In order to encourage domestic institutions to go global, to satisfy the demand for policies concerning domestic credit support for overseas investment enterprises, and to further facilitate the process of trade and investment, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange has recently issued the Circular on Issues Concerning the Administration of External Guarantees Provided by Domestic Institutions (hereinafter referred to as the Circular), and the Circular shall come into force as of the date of its promulgation. The Circular mainly covers the following issues: first, relaxing the qualification requirements for the guaranteed party and expanding the business scope of the external guarantees. The banks shall provide external guarantees for the financing, and the guaranteed parties are free from limiting factors such as stock equities, a proportion of the net assets, and the profitability of domestic institutions. Where external guarantees are provided by non-bank financial institutions, the guaranteed parties shall be either corporate bodies legitimately registered within China or enterprises that are domestic institutions, pursuant to the procedures for overseas investments, incorporations, or the holding of shares, either directly or indirectly, overseas. Where external guarantees are provided by the enterprises, the guaranteed party may be an enterprise which the guarantor, pursuant to the prescribed procedures, incorporates, or holds shares of, either directly or indirectly, at home or overseas. Second, lessening the requirements for financial indexes of the guarantor as well as the profitability of the guaranteed party. If external guarantees are provided by the enterprises, the proportion of net assets to the total assets thereof uniformly shall be no less than 15 percent; the amount of the guaranteed partys net assets shall be positive, and the requirements for profitability will be changed from no losses permitted to profits within one of the past three years. (For long-term projects like resource development, profits achieved in at least one of the past five years may be allowed.) Third, making adjustments to the scope of administration and the method for verification of the balance quotas for external guarantees. All external guarantees for financing purposes provided by banks for domestic and overseas institutions shall be incorporated in the administration of the balance quotas. Upon arrival, the administration of the balance quotas may be carried out on the external guarantees for financing or non-financing purposes of non-bank financial institutions and enterprises. Theoretically, the balance quotas for external guarantees provided by the banks shall not exceed 50 percent of the bankspaid-in capital combined with RMB and foreign currencies or working capital, or shall not exceed the amount of their net assets in foreign currency; such provisions also apply to non-bank financial institutions. The balance quotas for external guarantees and/or the balance for external guarantees that are approved by the Foreign Exchange Administration on a case-by-case basis shall not exceed 50 per cent of their net assets respectively. Fourth, clarifying the administrative method for non-financing guarantees provided by banks. When furnishing non-financing external guarantees, the banks are not subject to the provisions on the proportion of net assets and the profitability of the guaranteed party, but either the guaranteed party or the beneficiary shall be the domestic institution or the overseas institution in which the domestic institution holds shares, directly or indirectly. Finally, abolishing the approval procedures for the banks external guarantee performance and clarifying procedures for the external guarantee performance for other entities. Banks may apply for external guarantee performances at their own discretion. Non-bank financial institutions and enterprises shall apply with the local Foreign Exchange Administrations for approval of external guarantee performances on a case-by-case basis, and such institutions and enterprises may purchase foreign currencies during the application process. With the streamlined administrative procedures for external guarantees and clarified administrative requirements, the Circular makes it more convenient for domestic institutions to go globaland delivers more efficient domestic credit support to overseas investment companies, thus enabling domestic financial institutions to better control risks. In the meantime, the Circular refines the risk-prevention mechanisms related to the external guarantees and optimizes the regularly-recorded external guarantee statements, thus paving the way for efficient statistical monitoring, risk warnings, as well as a risk-control system for the balance of payments. 2010-07-30/en/2010/0730/944.html
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According to the statistics released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), the foreign exchange settlements by banks on behalf of clients from April to June of 2010 amounted to USD107.4 billion, USD96.2 billion, and USD108.7 billion respectively, totaling USD312.3 billion, whereas foreign exchange sales by banks on behalf of clients from April to June of 2010 amounted to USD71 billion, USD80.1 billion, and USD94.7 billion respectively, totaling USD245.8 billion. The surplus of the settlement and sales of foreign exchange by banks on behalf of clients from April to June of 2010 was USD36.4 billion, USD16.1 billion, and USD14 billion respectively, totaling USD66.5 billion. Foreign-related receipts of domestic banks on behalf of clients from April to June of 2010 amounted to USD145.7 billion, USD137.2 billion, and USD161.5 billion respectively, totaling USD444.4 billion. During the same period, foreign-related payments by domestic banks on behalf of clients amounted to USD123.2 billion, USD120.4 billion, and USD140.5 billion respectively, totaling USD384.1 billion. The favorable balance of foreign-related receipts and payments for each month of the second quarter amounted to USD22.5 billion, USD16.8 billion, and USD21 billion respectively, totaling USD60.3 billion. Definition of terms and interpretations Balance of payments refers to all economic transactions occurring between residents and non-residents in China, including all financial transactions and barter transactions resulting in any changes to the assets and liabilities thereof. Foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks refer to settlement and sales conducted by designated foreign exchange banks for their clients or for themselves, excluding data on inter-bank foreign exchange market transactions. Foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks on behalf of clients refer to, including foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks, those conducted by designated foreign exchange banks for their clients. The time of conversion between RMB and the foreign currency is regarded as the time-point for the statistics on the foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks, among which foreign exchange settlement refers to sales of foreign exchange by its owners to designated foreign exchange banks, whereas foreign exchange sales refer to sales of foreign exchange by designated foreign exchange banks to users thereof. The differences between foreign exchange settlement and sales are regarded as an offset balance. Such differences, which will be offset by banks through transactions on the inter-bank foreign exchange market, function as a major force resulting in changes to the countrys foreign exchange reserves. But it is not equivalent to the net change in foreign exchange reserves during the same period. The principle for transactions between residents and non-residents does not apply to the preparation of statistics on foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks on behalf of clients, and such statistics only cover transactions of RMB and foreign currencies between the banks and their clients, namely, exchange transactions between RMB and foreign currencies, which fall outside the category of the balance- of-payments statistics. Foreign-related receipts and payments of banks on behalf of clients refer to receipts and payments between domestic non-bank resident institutions and individuals (hereinafter collectively referred to as non-bank sector) and non-resident institutions or individuals through domestic banks, excluding receipts and payments in cash and the foreign-related receipts and payments of the banks themselves. Foreign-related receipts and payments of banks on behalf of clients include: cross-border receipts and payments between the non-bank sector and non-residents through domestic banks (including foreign currencies and RMB), as well as domestic receipts and payments (currently only including foreign currencies) between the non-bank sector and non-residents through domestic banks. The time- point for the statistics is when the clients apply to the domestic banks for foreign-related receipts and payments. Of the foreign-related receipts and payments of banks on behalf of clients, said receipts refer to the amount collected by the non-bank sector from non-residents through domestic banks, whereas said payments refer to the amount that the non-bank sector pays to non-residents through domestic banks. Although foreign-related receipts and payments of banks on behalf of clients are an integral part of the balance of payments statistics, the accounting method for the statistics, different from the accrual basis of accounting required by the balance of payments statistics, is based on a cash basis. In addition, it merely reflects fund flows between the non-bank sector and non-residents, and does not include barter transactions and foreign transactions conducted by the banks themselves. Furthermore, the scope of the statistics on foreign-related receipts and payments of banks on behalf of clients is smaller than the scope of the balance-of-payments statistics. 2010-08-13/en/2010/0813/948.html