On December 12, Fujian newly incorporated four more cities, i.e. Xiamen, Quanzhou, Ningde, and Zhangzhou, and two other banks, i.e. Industrial Bank and Xiamen Bank, in an effort to further pilot its multi-currency bank settlement account system.

As one of the participating cities, Fuzhou reportedly launched the pilot program in July 2021, adopting a uniform management system for the creation, change, and deactivation of multi-currency bank accounts and enabling users to manage funds in multiple currencies through just one bank account. At present, participants of this pilot program include Industrial and Commercial Bank (ICBC), China Construction Bank (CCB), China Merchants Bank (CMB), Industrial Bank, Xiamen Bank, and their 123 outlets. Eligible depositors in all pilot cities can apply for a multi-currency bank settlement account, and apply to their bank of deposit to add or remove a certain currency at any time. For single-currency (be it RMB or a foreign currency) bank accounts opened before the launch of the pilot program, users can upgrade to multi-currency accounts by signing a new account management agreement.

“Having a multi-currency bank account allows depositors to conduct transactions without needing to switch to a new bank account as they can choose which currency to use for payment purposes within one account and this has made fund management much more efficient than before,” said an official of the Fuzhou Central Sub-branch of the People's Bank of China. “Since the launch of the pilot program, we have received very positive feedback from the public. And I am sure as we expand the program, more market entities will benefit from it.”

To better protect the legitimate rights of depositors, more efforts will be made to strengthen risk management for multi-currency bank accounts. The People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange will ramp up in-transaction and after-transaction supervision of multi-currency bank accounts and require pilot banks to adopt rigorous management practices over their whole life cycle to prevent the illegal use of such bank accounts.