The Shanxi Branch of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange has achieved optimum results in facilitating its foreign exchange services in North China's Shanxi province since the start of 2022. 

The branch ordered the foreign exchange bureaus from across the province to choose 115 key foreign trade and internationally-funded companies. They identified some 149 of their difficulties and needs, and in door-to-door visits, resolved 89 of the problems on site.

In addition, it has issued measures to boost the pilot trade for foreign exchange receipts and payments for local businesses, lowering the entry threshold for pilot banks and enterprises.

To date, five banks have participated in the pilot foreign exchange facilitation program which has covered the seven cities of Taiyuan, Jincheng, Lyuliang, Yuncheng, Linfen, Datong and Xinzhou.

The banks have handled 1,990 pilot business concerning $6 billion since the start of the current year, and the time taken to clear the business has been reduced from 2-3 days previously to half an hour currently.

Moreover, the branch has advised commercial banks within its jurisdiction to improve the efficiency of business processing, based on the cross-border financial service platform of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. 

Banks in the province have handled 816 trade financing transactions through the platform, funding a total of $2.29 billion, with the interest rate decreasing 0.5 percentage points year-on-year.