The cross-border renminbi settlement in the China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone reaches 98.6 billion yuan ($15.09 billion) in the first 11 months of this year. [Photo/WeChat account: china-zjftz]

The cross-border renminbi settlement in the China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone reached 98.6 billion yuan ($15.09 billion) in the first 11 months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 28.8 percent, local media reported on Dec 17.

The figure includes 3.3 billion yuan of settlement under current account and 95.3 billion yuan of settlement under capital account.

The number of financial institutions capable of settling cross-border RMB business increased from 12 to 16 and their business scope extended from Hong Kong and Macao to 48 countries and regions, including Japan, the United States, and Germany in the Jan-Nov period.

Since commencing operations in 2017, the cross-border RMB settlement in Zhejiang FTZ has exceeded 260 billion yuan, accounting for 12 percent of the provincial total.

In April this year, the Zhejiang FTZ started piloting cross-border RMB trade and investment facilitation policies and has since dealt with 107 settlements worth 1.86 billion yuan for 21 companies.

The Zhejiang FTZ has also encouraged bonded fuel oil filing and agricultural companies to use cross-border RMB settlement.

As of October, five bonded fuel oil filing companies have conducted cross-border RMB settlement business amounting to $146 million, which accounted for 2.81 percent of the total settlement during the same time. The cross-border RMB settlement of two agricultural companies totaled 73.21 million yuan.

The Zhejiang FTZ has promoted the establishment of oil and gas settlement and trade centers. At present, the bunker supply center of Sinopec Group and the Northeast Asia settlement center of the China National Petroleum Corp have established operations in the zone.

Moreover, the Zhejiang FTZ has been shortlisted for the pilot of a bank account that combines RMB and foreign currencies.