Deutsche Bank leads EU Banks in implementing China’s new foreign currency liberalisation framework

Under the guidance of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), Deutsche Bank (China) Co., Ltd. (“Deutsche Bank China”) has successfully implemented the new foreign currency cross-border liberalisation framework at its branches in Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou. Deutsche Bank is the first European Union bank to fully implement the reforms introduced under SAFE’s “1+6” foreign currency policy framework.

What Is the “1+6” Foreign Currency Policy Framework?

SAFE’s “1+6” framework streamlines foreign currency regulations, making compliance more optimized and foreign currency transactions more efficient for multinational companies in China.

By consolidating various existing facilitation measures into the new regulatory structure, the bank has further enhanced the standardization and consistency of its foreign currency payment operations.

How does this help clients?

For large multinational corporations with centralized treasury models, the new framework offers a game-changing approach to cross-border payments and FX conversions across China. By adopting this framework, Deutsche Bank can provide these benefits to its clients:

• A unified, efficient, and streamlined model for cross-border payments and FX conversions across China.
• Seamless transition from previous processes, minimizing disruption.
• Lowering compliance costs and helping organisations gain more from regulatory liberalisation.
• Enhanced liquidity management

Rose Zhu, Deutsche Bank China Chief Country Officer, said: “The implementation further strengthens our ability to deliver local execution, risk control, and compliance capabilities for our multinational clients. It will help them manage their cross-border operations and treasury functions in China more efficiently. We look forward to continuing to leverage our global network and local insights to serve as a vital financial bridge between China and major markets such as Europe.”

The Finance and Accounting department at Carl Zeiss (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. commented: “As a German company with a long-standing presence in the Chinese market, we warmly welcome the rollout of Deutsche Bank China’s new foreign currency liberalisation programme. It will significantly simplify our cross-border payment processes, enhance treasury efficiency, and help us better coordinate global financial operations.”

Faster processing, enhanced compliance and streamlined process

Under the new framework, eligible corporations can complete cross-border transactions by simply submitting payment instructions to the bank, with processing times reduced from several days to just a few minutes. This greatly improves liquidity management and operational speed.

At the same time, Deutsche Bank applies advanced fintech tools to enable real-time transaction risk monitoring without disrupting client operations -  striking a strong balance between regulatory compliance and client experience

For transactions that still require supporting documents, Deutsche Bank China leverages its industry-leading electronic documentation platform to automate submission, matching, and verification processes. This significantly reduces turnaround times and further enhances the efficiency of cross-border foreign currency operations.

As a long-standing partner to multinational corporates in China, Deutsche Bank has consistently supported multinational clients in growing and managing their operations in the market. Deutsche Bank China continues to leverage its global platform, strong presence in Europe, and deep local expertise to meet regulatory expectations and further enhance its services under the new foreign currency liberalisation framework, while contributing to the ongoing high-level opening of the country’s financial markets.