China moves to facilitate current account forex transactions

China's foreign exchange regulator proposed a series of measures to expand the scope and types of current account foreign exchange transactions and reduce settlement and transaction costs for businesses on Monday, as part of efforts to facilitate cross-border trade and payments.

The measures would allow payment institutions to serve more emerging trade models, expand agency services for personal forex transactions, ease restrictions on foreign-currency rental payments, widen insurers' forex account usage, and simplify forex procedures for international sporting events.

The proposals form part of a draft regulation featuring facilitation measures released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange for public comment through Dec 1.