Deutsche Bank today announces that it has become the first European bank to secure approval for the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE)’s Pilot Scheme for Facilitation of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments for Trade. The scheme aims to simplify and improve foreign currency payments for cross-border trades.

Under the scheme, eligible clients of Deutsche Bank China (Shanghai Branch) will be exempt from providing supporting documents for foreign currency trade payment up front. This allows a straight-through payment processing upon the client’s e-banking instruction. Compared with the traditional payment procedure, this leads to a reduction in the foreign currency payment process time to just a few minutes from days.

The bank has completed its first foreign currency payment under the pilot scheme for global automotive technology company Aptiv on September 30, 2020.

Alvin Ho, Deutsche Bank China Head of Corporate Cash Management, said: “The successful approval for the foreign currency trade payments pilot scheme is solid testimony to our local market expertise and commitment. Deutsche Bank in Shanghai is one of only a few banks that offer clients both capital account and trade account pilot solutions. We will continue to leverage our information technology capabilities to provide convenient, efficient, and secured one-stop cross-border payment solutions to our clients.”

Deutsche Bank first established a presence in China in 1872 with the opening of its first overseas office in Shanghai. Headquartered in Beijing, Deutsche Bank (China) Co., Ltd. was officially incorporated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bank AG in 2008. Deutsche Bank China has branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Chongqing and Qingdao.