OREANDA-NEWS. December 29, 2014. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (USA) (ICBC (USA)) signed the RMB Business MOU with L.A. Government in Beijing (the “MOU”.

According to the MOU, both sides will further promote the cooperation in cross-border RMB business and jointly establish California off-shore RMB center.

By statistics, in the first 9 months this year, Sino-US RMB collection and payment volume exceeded RMB 160 billion, ranking the 7th compared with other countries, reflecting increasing cross-border RMB demands. As a leading state in economy and population, California boasts the largest foreign trade volume in US. As L.A. is the largest city in California, the establishment of off-shore RMB market will lay a solid foundation for cross-border use of the yuan between China and US.

According to an official with ICBC, the Bank has established New York Branch, ICBC (USA) and ICBKFS with licenses of commercial bank wholesale, retail and securities trader by means of application for establishment and acquisition. Among these, ICBC (USA), as a full-licensed bank, has 13 branches in New York, L.A. and San Francisco, covering east and west coasts of the US. Currently, ICBC institutions in the US offer RMB products covering deposit, exchange, settlement, clearing, L/C/L/G, trade finance, loan, inter-bank borrowing and lending and cash management. After signing the MOU, ICBC will step up efforts to promote the cross-border RMB business in L.A. and will conduct businesses including RMB deposits and loans, bank card, wealth management, trade finance, foreign exchange trading, cross-border settlement, bond issuance, futures and options.

Since the pilot project of cross-border RMB business in the second half of 2009, ICBC has been devoted to expanding its advantages in RMB business overseas, improving global financial services and global RMB clearing network, thus forming a cross-border RMB trading platform with diversified channels, enriched products and high performance. As of the end of September 2014, ICBC has handled cross-border RMB business of close to RMB 7.7 trillion.