A SAFE draft notice released for public comment on November 2 would let licensed payment institutions (支付机构) handle foreign exchange for market procurement trade and integrated foreign trade service companies. Today the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (国家外汇管理局) limits their FX business to cross-border e-commerce. Comments are due by December 1.
Under the draft, payment institutions could offer current-account currency conversion (代理结售汇) and related fund collection and payment to businesses in these trade formats. They would have to verify customer identity, capture electronic transaction data, check that each trade is genuine and register with the SAFE branch where they are based. The 2019 rules that govern their FX business cover only e-commerce sellers and consumers, require each firm to work through partner banks and cap a single transaction at US$50,000 unless a SAFE branch approves a higher limit.
The payment clause is one of nine easing measures in the notice. Other measures listed by SAFE:
- Nationwide rollout of the cross-border trade FX facilitation scheme (跨境贸易高水平开放外汇收支便利化业务) from January 1, 2027
- From June 1, 2027, Class A companies on SAFE’s trade FX list may skip trade credit reports, and others may report monthly balances in place of each deal
- Netting of FX receipts and payments with the same counterparty in neighbouring countries for companies in nine border provinces, including Guangxi, Yunnan and Xinjiang
Why it matters: Market procurement trade, the export model used by wholesale hubs such as Yiwu, runs on large numbers of small orders paid in foreign currency, the same pattern payment institutions already process for e-commerce sellers. The draft puts more of the work of proving that trades are real onto the payment firm, so the firms with the best transaction and logistics data on small exporters are the ones best placed to win this business. Whether the US$50,000 cap changes for these trades will decide how large the new market is.
Sources: 国家外汇管理局 State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), draft notice and drafting note, November 2, 2026; 新华财经 Xinhua Finance, November 2, 2026; SAFE rules on payment institutions’ FX business, 2019 (Chinese-language sources, translated)
