The People’s Bank of China (PBC) Shanghai Head Office, all branches and operations offices, the central sub-branches of the capital cities in all provinces (autonomous regions), the central sub-branches in Dalian, Qingdao, Ningbo, Xiamen and Shenzhen; the branches (foreign exchange administrative departments) of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and the branches of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange in Shenzhen, Dalian, Qingdao, Xiamen and Ningbo; all policy banks, wholly state-owned commercial banks, and joint-stock commercial banks; China UnionPay Joint Stock Limited Company:
In accordance with Announcement No. 26 [2005] of the People's Bank of China (hereinafter referred to as the “Announcement”) and other relevant legal provisions, we hereby give our notice as follows regarding the relevant issues on enlarging the scope for Mainland banks and Hong Kong banks to operate Renminbi business:
I. For the money remitted via liquidation banks by individuals holding a resident identity card of Hong Kong into the Mainland banks, with the remitters as payees, the maximum limit of remittance for each remitter per day shall be raised from RMB50,000 to RMB80,000. If the Renminbi amount remitted from Hong Kong by the same remitter on the same day is more than RMB80,000, the Mainland bank shall return the excessive part of the Renminbi amount via the original avenue to the remitting bank in Hong Kong, and shall not make the payment to the payee.
II. The restriction on Renminbi credit line, that is, the individual Renminbi bank card issued by a licensed Hong Kong bank or its subsidiary body shall not exceed RMB100,000 , is cancelled. The Renminbi credit line shall be decided by each card-issuing bank itself.
III. A Mainland resident may bring an individual Renminbi bank card issued by a Mainland commercial bank to make tourism and consumptive payments in Hong Kong for shopping, catering, accommodation, traffic, communications, medical treatment, education, etc., provided that he does not use it to pay for capital or financial account transactions other than tourism or consumption, such as operational transactions, securities investments, and real estate, etc., or for transactions prohibited by the laws and regulations of the Mainland such as gambling, etc. China UnionPay, the card-issuing bank and the acquiring bank shall, in accordance with the “Announcement” and the relevant administrative provisions of the People's Bank of China, limit the codes of merchants and transactions.
IV. An individual resident from Hong Kong may, within a limit of RMB 80,000 in each account per day, issue Renminbi checks to pay consumptive expenditures inside Guangdong Province. Such Renminbi checks may not be assigned. The time for Hong Kong residents to issue Renminbi checks will be separately notified after the work on relevant administrative measures and technical equipment is accomplished.
V. This Notice shall come into force on the date of its circulation. Other relevant matters for the Mainland banks and the Hong Kong banks to operate Renminbi business shall still be governed by the Notice of the People's Bank of China on the Relevant Issues Concerning the Operation of Renminbi Business by Mainland Banks and the Banks of Hong Kong Banks and Macao (No. 254 [2004] of the People's Bank of China). All branches and operations offices of the People's Bank of China, and the central sub-branches of the capital cities in all provinces (autonomous regions) are requested to forward the present Notice to the urban commercial banks, rural commercial banks, rural cooperative banks, urban and rural credit cooperatives, foreign capital banks within their respective jurisdictions.
The People's Bank of China
December 4, 2005
