By July 15, there were 100 setups of foreign banks licensed to operate Renminbi (RMB) service in China, covering half of the total foreign bank setups in China, according to statistics released by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) on Monday.

In 2001, there were only 30 foreign bank setups which could have RMB service in China. Fifty-three out of the current 100 setups have been licensed to provide RMB service to Chinese enterprises, according to the CBRC.

Among the 100 foreign bank setups, 53 are located in Shanghai, the commercial and financial center of China, while 19 are in south China's Shenzhen and the other 27 are scattered in another seven cities.

By the end of June, the total RMB assets of foreign banks in China reached 84.4 billion yuan (10.2 billion US dollars), up 49 percent over last June. The profit of these foreign banks amountedto 267 million yuan (32.2 million US dollars) in the past six months of 2004.

China has lifted restrictions over forex business on foreign banks and plans to further increase the number of regions where foreign banks are allowed to start RMB business.

Source: Xinhua