Cutting Red Tape While Boosting Efficiency: China's Bank Foreign-Exchange Business Reform Delivers Results

Reform of banks' foreign-exchange business operations has been a key priority in China's foreign-exchange administration in recent years.

Since the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) launched the reform at the end of 2023, the number of participating banks has grown to 33 as of end-June 2026. A total of 53,000 enterprises have been rated as high-quality clients, up 27% from end-2025. In the first half of 2026, facilitated transactions for these enterprises exceeded $580 billion, doubling year on year.

Reduced Burden for Enterprises, Greater Efficiency for Banks

The most direct benefit of the reform for enterprises is reduced burden. According to SAFE, high-quality clients no longer need to go through "document-by-document" or "transaction-by-transaction" review when handling foreign-exchange business at banks. Processing time has been shortened by an average of 50% to 75%.

"The time our team used to spend organizing documents and running to banks is now fully freed up for capital planning and exchange-rate risk management. It's like adding a turbocharger to our overseas business," said the finance chief of a leading electric-vehicle manufacturer. Now enterprises only need to submit instructions through online banking systems; the system automatically recognizes them and completes review in seconds. Export payments arrive and are credited instantly after confirmation.

Behind the reduced burden for enterprises lies the reform-driven transformation of banks' foreign-exchange business processes.

A Bank of China executive noted that the bank has restructured its foreign-exchange procedures under the reform, significantly reducing over-the-counter review pressure. While simplifying reviews, the bank uses electronic pre-transaction client classification and rating to break down internal information silos and promote integrated risk-management data.