March 2,2017,10:11:00 PM EDT By Reuters Elias Glenn and Winni Zhou
China will create an open,competitive domestic currency market and should let a flexible exchange rate mechanism regulate the impact of capital flows and balance international payments,a deputy head of its foreign exchange regulator has said.Writing in a State Administration of Foreign Exchange(SAFE)publication on Thursday,Fang Shangpu said a so-called “negative list” would be established,based on prudential assessment.Analysts believe such a list would specify sectors of the foreign exchange market that would remain subject to controls.According to Fang,foreign exchange conversion limits would be gradually phased out for“microscopic areas”,a term interpreted by analysts as meaning transactions by individuals and companies.China's foreign exchange reserves unexpectedly fell below the closely watched$3 trillion level in January for the first time in nearly six years,though tighter regulatory controls appeared to making some progress in slowing capital outflows.
China has long committed that it would push forward with market-oriented exchange rate reform that allows for two-way flexibility in the Chinese currency,though the yuan remains tightly controlled.And some analysts fear a heavy and sustained drain on reserves could prompt Beijing to devalue the yuan as it did in 2015.
Fang said SAFE will “strengthen checks on authenticity and compliance of banks' foreign exchange businesses”.He reiterated SAFE's call for tighter controls of capital outflows,which have contributed to a weakening yuan and the drawdown of FX reserves.The authority will also continue to “combat illegal activities and wrongdoings in order to keep order in the FX market”,and it will “strictly deter arbitrage that circumvents policies,” Fang said.SAFE said this week that it would let foreign investors trade FX derivatives in its interbank bond market for the first time.
“(China should)increase the depth of the foreign exchange market,increase the number of trading tools and market participants,and establish a multi-tiered and inclusive trading platform,” Fang said.He also said China would work on including cross-border capital flow management in its macro prudential risk assessment framework for banks and would improve policy tools for counter-cyclical management of cross-border flows.Analysts and market participants said they did not expect any relaxation of the domestic foreign exchange market soon,and were unclear over the extent of the plans for liberalization.
China will tighten foreign exchange market regulations in 2017 and crack down on relevant legal violations in order to maintain a healthy balance of international payments for the country,according to China's foreign exchange authority.
The Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange also said that it will make policy more transparent to further open China's financial market to the outside world.
“We will continue to push forward and support the two-way opening of China's financial market,and further promote the facilitation of cross-border trade and investment so that the financial market can better serve the real economy,” said Pan Gongsheng,head of the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange.
Pan said that China's foreign exchange market is currently stable,and cross-border capital flows remain balanced.Several companies,however,were found using false documents and fictitious trade records to evade foreign exchange control in the recent crackdown,with many individuals held suspect for money laundering and illegal assets transfer.
The administration has recently cracked down on several cases related to China's foreign exchange laws and regulations,including an illegal private bank,which involved nearly 50 billion yuan(about 7.3 billion US dollars).
by Reuters 14th Feb.2017
NEW YORK,Feb 13(Reuters)—FXCM Inc(FXCM.O)agreed to pay a$650000 civil fine to settle US Commodity Futures Trading Commission charges that the currencies broker was undercapitalized in January 2015 and was too slow to report the shortfall.
A consent order describing the settlement was filed on Monday with the federal court in Manhattan and approved by U.S.District Judge Katherine Forrest.
The settlement also resolved a claim that FXCM violated CFTC rules by representing to customers that it would limit their losses,through a policy of “zeroing out” negative balances.
FXCM did not admit or deny wrongdoing.A spokeswoman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The settlement was disclosed one week after New York-based FXCM said it intended to pull out of US retail foreign exchange,and sell its customer accounts to Gain Capital Holdings Inc(GCAP.N).
That announcement accompanied a$7 million CFTC fine against FXCM and founding partners Dror“Drew” Niv and William Ahdout to resolve charges that over five years they concealed FXCM's close ties to a market maker that received favored treatment.
FXCM,Niv and Ahdout were also barred from markets overseen by the CFTC.
Monday's settlement stemmed from the Swiss National Bank's decision on Jan.15,2015 to eliminate a cap on the Swiss franc's value relative to the euro.
That decision caused EURO to plunge,and led FXCM a day later to report having lost more than$200 million as a result.
28th Apr.2016
The UK unseated the southeast Asian financial hub as the largest clearing centre for the RMB outside of greater China in March,according to SWIFT's RMB tracker.The financial transaction system's data showed the value of UK RMB payments rose 21% year-on-year last month.
That reflects the growing dominance of China's currency in payments between the UK and China,which now accounts for 40% of all payments in the corridor,followed by the Hong Kong dollar(24%).
London is the world's largest single FX-trading centre,with$2.15tn traded daily,according to the latest data from the Bank of England.The RMB has climbed to be the eighth most-traded currency in the city,involved in 1.8% of transactions—equivalent to about $39bn of deals,compared with$1.9tn for the dollar and$837bn for the euro.
With the UK accounting for 6.3% of all offshore transactions using the Chinese currency at last count,Singapore has been bumped to third place at 4.6%.But both are still leagues behind Hong Kong,which processes 72.5% of all RMB payments.
Stephen Gilderdale,managing director for UK,Ireland and Nordics at SWIFT,attributed the rise to steady growth in RMB clearance at China Construction Bank's UK branch,which opened in June 2014.
In 2018 the US reactivated a slew of sanctions on Iran's financial and industrial sectors beginning on 7th Aug.2018.
The action,followed by another set of sanctions brought U.S.sanctions against Iran to the level on par with those prior to a major multilateral nuclear deal reached in 2015.
The first batch of sanctions target Tehran's purchase of U.S.banknotes,trade in gold and other precious metals,as well as the use of graphite,coal,aluminum and steel in industrial processes.
Another round of sanctions reinstalled were on Iran's port,energy and shipping sectors,its petroleum-related transactions,and foreign transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.Furthermore,the U.S.administration has chosen to kick Russia out of SWIFT and confiscate its assets.The U.S.dollar has been weaponised with the cost of degrading the world's trust in the U.S.over time.Investors and countries are actively looking to lessen the dominance of the U.S.dollar in international finance.