Shanghai FTZ released the second batch of nine financial innovation cases on July 8, said Dai Haibo, vice director of the zone’s administration.

The cases focus on four innovational services at FTZ: establishing free trade account and related services, expanding yuan’s cross-border transactions, implementing foreign exchange management reforms and innovating financing measures.

Free trade account set-ups include the opening of free trade accounts and transfer of funds. With regulations over separate accounting in the FTZ, branches of ICBC (Industrial and Commerce Bank of China) and BOC (Bank of China) in Shanghai have started setting up free trade accounts for eligible institutions and individuals.

Expanding yuan’s cross-border transactions refers to three cases of RMB guarantee loans for overseas syndications, cross-border receipt and payment and netting settlement, and cross-border transactions of individual current-accounts by yuan.

Foreign exchange management reform measures include two cases illustrating the willingness of exchange settlements and the registration of direct investments in foreign exchange in the FTZ. Enterprises can register and establish foreign exchange accounts at the same time by providing related materials to the bank.

Innovation in financing consists of two cases in cross-border merging and financing services in the FTZ and services in promoting cross-border cooperation between banks, tenants and insurance companies.

Dai also said the FTZ and Shanghai’s Financial Services Office would work together to involve more financial institutions and enterprises in the practice of financial innovation and help build an international financial market platform in the free trade zone.