The State Administration of Foreign Exchange published a draft notice for public
comment to loosen current-account FX rules. Licensed payment institutions would
be allowed, beyond existing cross-border e-commerce services, to act as agents
for current-account FX settlement and related funds-payment services for market
procurement trade, foreign-trade comprehensive service providers and other new
trade formats. The draft would also lower the threshold for domestic FX
settlement of operating leases by removing a lessee foreign-exchange
income-scale admission requirement and permitting lessees to buy foreign
currency to pay rent to lessors where transactions are genuine and compliant.
