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The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) has become the first overseas bank to offer foreign currency services to Chinese citizens and companies in Beijing, the bank said in a statement Wednesday.
It has also been given the green light by the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, to offer the same services in Shanghai.
HSBC is the second overseas bank approved to offer foreign currency services to Chinese citizens and companies. Citibank announced last week it had been granted a license for similar services in Shanghai.
The long-awaited licenses to Citibank and HSBC follow the first such approval granted by the central bank to a joint-venture bank, Xiamen International Bank, earlier this month.
Until now, foreign banks in China have only been allowed to serve foreign customers or foreign-funded firms.
Access to domestic customers is part of China's commitment to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2002)
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