Facing a complex international economic landscape and domestic industrial upgrading demands, China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) is intensifying its release of policy dividends. At recent State Council Information Office press conferences, SAFE officials explicitly stated they will actively advance a package of facilitation policies, covering not only capital account streamlining and decentralization but also comprehensive deepening of service trade foreign exchange management reforms. The goal is to further reduce corporate “shoe-leather costs,” solidify foreign investor confidence, and unleash new momentum in service trade.
SAFE Deputy Administrator Li Bin introduced at the briefing that to precisely address operational pain points of market entities, the administration will roll out multiple concrete measures. For foreign-invested enterprises seeking to enhance investment efficiency, SAFE will further simplify capital account settlement and payment procedures to support attracting and utilizing foreign investment. For companies actively “going global” to expand overseas operations, the review process for outward remittance of funds will be streamlined in an orderly manner, ensuring efficient and convenient use of capital for normal business operations.
In the critical area of financial services supporting the real economy, policy innovation is equally noteworthy. To broaden the reach of tech innovation and green financial services, SAFE is preparing to further expand the scope of eligible entities for cross-border financing facilitation and promote green foreign debt pilots nationwide. Meanwhile, macro-prudential management measures for corporate cross-border financing will see further optimization to meet foreign-invested enterprises’ needs for exchange rate hedging and flexible capital allocation.
Registration Transferred to Banks, FX Business Reform Results Double
The most distinctive feature of this round of facilitation reforms is the restructuring of business processes. SAFE stated that, considering enterprises’ practical needs for more convenient cross-border investment and financing operations, it plans to transfer certain registration procedures directly to banks and increase the types of capital account services available for online processing. This means companies no longer need to make frequent trips to SAFE offices but can complete relevant procedures through bank branches and online systems, significantly reducing time and labor costs.
The pivotal role of banks in foreign exchange services is becoming increasingly prominent. Li Bin noted that China continues to deepen reform and opening-up in the foreign exchange sector, promoting cross-border trade and investment facilitation. Currently, the transaction volume processed for enterprises under the foreign exchange business reform has doubled year-on-year.
The data provides the most direct evidence. As of end-June 2026, the number of banks participating in the foreign exchange business reform had increased to 33, essentially covering all major banks handling cross-border business. Banks had assessed a total of 53,000 quality corporate clients, up 27% from end-2025. In the first half of this year, these banks facilitated transactions exceeding $580 billion for quality enterprises, doubling year-on-year.
| Metric | End-2025 | End-June 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Banks in business reform program | Not disclosed | 33 | Essentially covers major banks |
| Quality corporate clients assessed | Baseline | 53,000 | +27% vs end-2025 |
| H1 facilitated transaction volume | Baseline | >$580 billion | Doubled YoY |
Li Bin emphasized that while deepening foreign exchange sector reform and opening-up, SAFE will persist in combining facilitation with risk prevention, safeguarding the security bottom line under open conditions.
Service Trade Surges, Export Growth Hits 21% in First Five Months
Beyond traditional capital account management liberalization, service trade is becoming a key engine of China’s external economic structural transformation. At the July 17 press conference, SAFE spokesperson and Deputy Administrator Li Bin, responding to a question from The Paper, provided a detailed analysis of future trends in China’s cross-border service trade.
Li Bin explained that economic restructuring is driving steady expansion of China’s cross-border service trade scale. Balance of payments data shows that over the past five years, China’s service trade imports and exports have grown rapidly at an average annual rate of 12%, with the 2025 scale exceeding $1 trillion. This momentum continued into 2026, with service trade imports and exports growing 10% year-on-year in the first five months. The share of service trade in total goods and services trade reached 13.5% in 2025, showing a steady upward trend and indicating that China’s trade structure is gradually shifting toward coordinated development of goods and services.
On the import side, China is not only a major service trade nation but also a significant global buyer of services. In 2025, China’s service trade imports exceeded $620 billion, firmly ranking as the world’s second-largest service import market. Li Bin noted that China’s service trade deficit is close to $240 billion, the largest globally, which in fact provides a massive market for the development of the global services industry.
More noteworthy is the strong explosive momentum on the export side. Over the past five years, China’s service trade exports grew at an average annual rate of 14%, with the 2025 scale nearly doubling compared to 2020. In the first five months of 2026, China’s service exports grew 21% year-on-year, a high growth rate driven primarily by two major factors. First, as China continues to expand visa-free entry for foreigners and optimize payment services and departure tax refund policies for foreign visitors, cross-border travel revenue grew 37% year-on-year in the first five months, contributing 24% of service export growth. Second, China is vigorously developing technology services and digital-intelligent services, promoting integrated development of manufacturing and services, with the competitive advantage of emerging productive service trade continuing to strengthen. In the first five months, combined revenue from computer and information services, business services, and intellectual property services grew 17%, contributing 45% of service export growth.
Li Bin stated that the Chinese government places high importance on the comprehensive development of the service sector, and the scale of service trade is expected to continue expanding. SAFE will comprehensively deepen service trade foreign exchange management reforms, expand cross-border trade high-level opening pilots, and contribute to promoting high-quality service trade development.
Policy Package Supports High-Level Opening-Up
Taken together, the policy signals released by SAFE this time cover dual facilitation of both capital and current accounts. From simplifying capital account settlement and promoting green foreign debt pilots, to extending over-the-counter services to banks and strengthening online processing, to expanding service trade high-level opening pilots, the policy reach extends precisely to key areas including foreign investment, Chinese enterprises going global, tech innovation financing, and digital-intelligent service exports.
With the expansion of banks participating in the foreign exchange business reform and the rapid growth of the quality client base, the over $580 billion in transaction volume processed in the first half not only validates the effectiveness of the reform path but also provides a solid risk control foundation for further streamlining and decentralization. While safeguarding the security bottom line, reducing frictional costs of cross-border capital flows through institutional innovation is becoming a key strategic move for China to stabilize foreign investment and trade, and even reshape global service trade competitiveness.
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