The branches and foreign exchange administrative departments of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) in all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, the branches of the SAFE in Shenzhen, Dalian, Qingdao, Xiamen, and Ningbo, and national Chinese-funded banks:

Given the changes and adjustments to the provisions on foreign exchange administration from October 2015 to date, the SAFE has formulated the Contents and Scoring Criteria for the Assessment of Banks’ Implementation of Regulations on Foreign Exchange Administration (2017) (see the Appendix, Criteria). The relevant issues are notified as follows:

1. Assessments of banks’ implementation of regulations on foreign exchange administration for the assessment year 2017 (from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017) shall be governed by the Criteria.

2. Since the beginning of the assessment year 2017, the scores of the risk-based assessment indicators have been adjusted to 15[1]; The formula for the final assessment scores of the head offices of banks[2] has been adjusted to: The final assessment scores of the head offices of banks =∑scores for the individual indicators for general assessment on banks × 60% + scores for the risk-based assessment indicators + scores for the separate assessment indicators for the head offices of banks. Relevant provisions in the Circular of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on the Amendment to the Measures for Assessment of Banks’ Implementation of Regulations on Foreign Exchange Administration (Huifa No. 26 [2015]) will be nullified.

3. After receiving this Circular, all branches and foreign exchange administrative departments of the SAFE shall immediately forward it 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, and shall carry out fair and just assessments of the banks within their respective jurisdictions in implementing the regulations on foreign exchange administration in accordance with the Criteria.

4. Upon receipt of this Circular, all national Chinese-funded banks shall forward it to their branches and sub-branches within their respective jurisdictions as soon as possible, so that they could handle foreign exchange business in compliance with laws and regulations.

5. Starting from the date of issuance of this Circular, the Circular of the General Affairs Department of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Printing and Distributing the Contents and Scoring Criteria for the Assessment of  Banks’ Implementation of Regulations on Foreign Exchange Administration (2016) (Huizongfa No. 31 [2016]), and the Contents and Scoring Criteria for the Assessment of Banks’ Implementation of Regulations on Foreign Exchange Administration, which is attached to the Circular of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on the Amendment to the Measures for Assessment of Banks’ Implementation of Regulations on Foreign Exchange Administration (Huifa No. 26 [2015]), will be annulled.

In case of any problems encountered during implementation, please report them to the relevant departments of the SAFE immediately. Telephone numbers: 010-68402113 (General Affairs Department), 010-68402593 (Balance of Payments Department), 010-68402104 (Current Account Management Department), 010-68402127 (Capital Account Management Department), 010-68402378 (Supervision and Inspection Department) and 010-68402467 (Data Monitoring Center for Foreign Exchange Transaction).

Please follow the Circular in your implementation.

Appendix: Contents and Scoring Criteria for the Assessment of Banks’ Implementation of Regulations on Foreign Exchange Administration (2017)