Major Chinese Banks Successfully Complete First Offshore RMB FX Pilot Trading in Shanghai FTZ

PBOC Governor Pan Gongsheng announced at the 2026 Lujiazui Forum on June 17 that an offshore RMB foreign exchange trading pilot will be launched in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, authorizing six banks — ICBC, ABC, BOC, CCB, Bank of Communications, and CITIC Bank — to conduct offshore RMB FX trading via the CFETS platform within the Shanghai FTZ.

Securities Daily learned that the aforementioned banks have responded swiftly, successfully completing the first batch of offshore RMB FX pilot trading in the Shanghai FTZ and marking a smooth delivery of this offshore RMB market reform initiative.

ICBC was the first to participate as a bilateral market maker in the Shanghai FTZ offshore RMB FX market, successfully executing the first batch of trades with counterparties spanning Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, London, and other jurisdictions. Trading instruments covered the full spectrum of FX spot, forwards, and swaps, with currency pairs including offshore RMB against USD, EUR, JPY, HKD, SGD, TRY, AUD, THB, and ZAR.

ABC responded immediately to the policy rollout. According to an ABC executive, on the first day of the pilot, the bank connected multiple market participants and established core trading links among its headquarters, domestic and overseas counterparties, and overseas branches, completing several offshore RMB FX transactions.

On the first day, BOC completed its first batch of offshore RMB FX trades on the CFETS platform, covering FX spot and swaps across currencies of both developed economies and Belt and Road Initiative countries, and also executed its first trade with an overseas counterparty. The successful implementation helps broaden the participant base in the offshore RMB FX market.

CCB and Bank of Communications also executed their first batch of offshore RMB FX trades on the CFETS platform on the day the policy was announced, covering the full range of spot, forwards, and swaps.

“The successful execution of first-day trading validated CCB’s internal systems’ capability to support cross-border and offshore RMB transaction settlement, demonstrating CCB’s robust offshore pricing capabilities and service capacity in supporting China’s two-way FX market opening,” a CCB executive stated.

Bank of Communications noted that its direct participation in offshore RMB FX trading enables more flexible utilization of onshore and offshore market resources, enhances FX market making, trading, and pricing capabilities, and helps maintain the RMB exchange rate at a broadly stable and equilibrium level.

According to CFETS public data, in December 2024, CFETS launched the Shanghai FTZ offshore RMB FX trading platform under the guidance of the PBOC and SAFE. The platform currently hosts over 50 overseas banks and Shanghai FTZ financial institutions, with daily trading volume averaging RMB 12 billion, and has gradually become one of the primary channels for Chinese institutions’ offshore RMB liquidity management and position squaring. The approval of these six banks to conduct offshore RMB FX trading marks a new phase in the participation of China’s financial infrastructure and domestic financial institutions in offshore market development.

Lou Feipeng, a researcher at Postal Savings Bank of China, told Securities Daily that this move further expands the scope of eligible participants in Shanghai FTZ offshore FX trading, helps advance Shanghai’s offshore financial development, enhances the CFETS platform’s influence in the offshore market, supports Chinese banks in building globally competitive financial institutions, and represents a major breakthrough in onshore-offshore market integration.

(Source: Securities Daily, June 22, 2026)