Cross-border Trade and Investment Financing Facilitation Policy: Analysis of Its Impact on China's Import and Export Enterprises and Foreign Trade-related Industries

Zhu Hexin, Director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, emphasized at the 2025 Collective Talk Meeting for Newly Appointed Division-Level Leading Cadres that we should deepen reform and opening up in the foreign exchange field, promote cross-border trade and investment financing facilitation, prevent cross-border capital flow risks, ensure the safety, liquidity, and preservation and appreciation of foreign exchange reserve assets, and maintain foreign exchange market stability and national economic and financial security. This statement continues the overall思路 of foreign exchange management reform of “both promoting facilitation and preventing risks”.

Recent important supporting measures include: the People’s Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange promoted the integrated domestic and foreign currency cash pool business for multinational corporations nationwide. The notice clearly integrates domestic and foreign currency cash pool businesses into unified management, encourages enterprises to carry out cash pool businesses in domestic currency; local SAFE branches handle cash pool business registration through a “one window” to reduce enterprises’ “footing costs”; at the same time, it establishes centralized quota management for external debt and overseas lending linked to the owner’s equity of cash pool member enterprises, supports enterprises to independently and efficiently allocate funds within the quota, and strengthens in-process and post-event supervision and monitoring [1][2].

Note: The “2025 Collective Talk Meeting for Newly Appointed Division-Level Leading Cadres” you mentioned is an important policy position statement, but no meeting text was returned in this public search result. For a more accurate list of policies and effective dates, it is recommended to refer to the official websites of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange/People’s Bank of China.

• The promotion of integrated domestic and foreign currency cash pools allows multinational corporations to more efficiently conduct cross-border capital collection and transfer under a unified framework, reducing approval links and operational delays, which helps group enterprises optimize global capital layout [1][2].
• Enterprises can more independently carry out external debt and overseas lending business within the quota framework linked to the equity of member enterprises, improving capital utilization efficiency and reducing overall financing costs and exchange costs [1].
• “One window” registration helps reduce institutional transaction costs and compliance communication costs, and alleviate “footing costs” [1].

• Encouraging cash pool businesses in domestic currency (RMB) helps hedge exchange rate fluctuation risks and reduce exchange-related costs [1].
• Under the unified quota management and facilitation framework, while enterprises can “independently allocate funds within the quota”, they also need to pay more attention to exchange rate exposure and capital repatriation arrangements to cooperate with the requirements of “in-process and post-event supervision” [1].

• The policy emphasizes “in-process and post-event supervision”, requiring enterprises and cooperative banks to handle businesses in a standardized manner, and strengthen statistical monitoring and off-site/on-site verification [1]. This puts forward higher requirements for compliance and internal control, which may increase investment in system and process optimization in the short term.

• The above cash pool policy mainly targets multinational corporations and group entities. The direct impact on the majority of small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises is relatively limited, but the overall “facilitation” and “stable exchange rate” macro environment will still indirectly reduce their institutional costs and external uncertainties in cross-border settlement and financing.

• Commercial banks will play a key role in cash pool custody, settlement, quota management, and compliance monitoring, and the scale of related businesses is expected to increase.
• Fintech service providers can rely on digital settlement and intelligent compliance tools to help enterprises and banks improve process automation and risk control efficiency (such as cross-border payment automation, foreign exchange exposure monitoring, and report generation).
• Local institutions promoting “digital financing for SMEs, cross-border trade facilitation, and financial technology innovation” are also mentioned in search results [4], indicating positive market responses.

• The optimization of cash pools and quota management will strengthen liquidity support for upstream and downstream of multinational group supply chains, improving account period structure and payment stability.
• Comprehensive foreign trade service providers can leverage the more convenient settlement and financing environment to provide one-stop solutions for the industrial chain (such as accounts receivable financing, multi-currency settlement, and exchange rate hedging).

• Facilitation helps shorten settlement and financing cycles, improve cash flow, and indirectly support order fulfillment and logistics scheduling capabilities, which has a buffering effect during periods of freight rate fluctuations and tight舱位.

• Large multinational/group enterprises: More likely to directly benefit from cash pool and quota facilitation, and can arrange capital and exchange rate strategies more flexibly globally.
• SMEs: Indirectly benefit from a more stable macro exchange rate environment and overall facilitation trends, but need to use tools such as banks, factoring, supply chain finance, and digital settlement platforms to fully convert policy dividends.

From the search results, the proportion of cross-border RMB payments has shown an upward trend in recent years [3]. The promotion of integrated domestic and foreign currency cash pools and “encouraging cash pool businesses in domestic currency” are consistent with the direction of cross-border RMB use in operational terms [1]. This will bring more diversified and stable long-term options for import and export enterprises in settlement currency selection, exchange rate hedging tools, and financing channels.

• Proactively evaluate the applicability of the cash pool policy (especially for group-type, multi-currency business entities), and cooperate with banks to design cross-border capital and quota management plans.
• Optimize foreign exchange risk management mechanisms, including hedging strategies, exposure limits, and payment repatriation arrangements, to adapt to the framework of “independent allocation within the quota + in-process and post-event supervision”.
• Strengthen compliance and internal control: Improve cross-border capital ledgers, authorization approval, and data reporting processes to meet the requirements of statistical monitoring and off-site verification [1].

• Banks and fintech companies can provide integrated solutions of “integrated cash pool + intelligent compliance + exchange rate hedging” to reduce customer access and operation thresholds.
• Industry platforms and associations can help SMEs understand policy boundaries and applicable scenarios through case studies and policy interpretations.

• Supervision and Balance: The policy clearly requires “preventing cross-border capital flow risks” and conducts “off-site verification and on-site inspections” [1]. Facilitation and supervision intensity need to be balanced simultaneously.
• Compliance Costs: In the short term, enterprises need to invest in system transformation, process optimization, and personnel training to adapt to new registration, quota, and monitoring requirements.
• International Environment: External demand, tariffs, and geopolitical factors may still disturb exports, which need to be evaluated in combination with the effects of cross-border capital policies.

The cross-border trade and investment financing facilitation policy is evolving towards the direction of “integrated domestic and foreign currencies + centralized quota management + in-process and post-event supervision”. Multinational corporations and group enterprises are expected to achieve substantial efficiency improvements in cross-border capital collection, settlement, and financing links [1][2]. Overall, the capital operation costs and exchange risks of import and export enterprises are expected to decrease, while higher requirements for compliance and risk management are put forward. For the majority of small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises, policy dividends are more indirectly released through macro exchange rate stability and supporting financial ecosystem improvements, and need to rely on banks and fintech tools to better receive them. For more specific timetables and industry detailed data, it is recommended to continue tracking subsequent rules and case notifications from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and the People’s Bank of China, and carry out enterprise-level scenario calculations and stress tests.

[1] Yahoo Finance Hong Kong - PBOC and SAFE Promote Integrated Domestic and Foreign Currency Cash Pool Business for Multinational Corporations, https://hk.finance.yahoo.com/news/人行及外管局推廣跨國公司本外幣-體化資金池業務-032332582.html
[2] Yahoo Finance Hong Kong - Cannot Simply Understand the Expansion of Capital and Financial Account Deficit as Increased Capital Outflow Pressure (Relevant Statement from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange), https://hk.finance.yahoo.com/news/外管局-不能將資本及金融帳逆差擴大簡單理解為資本流出壓力增加-085728230.html
[3] Image Information: Cross-border RMB Payment Share Continues to Rise Before 2025 (Showing Upward Trend of RMB Cross-border Payment Share), https://s.yimg.net/.../d8f22eea8d79667819f731e0fef93519 (Data Background Illustration, Not Precise Statistical Caliber)
[4] Yahoo Finance Hong Kong - TradeLink (00536) Signs Cooperation Memorandum with Fusion Bank, https://hk.finance.yahoo.com/news/貿易通-00536-與-fusion-bank-023650237.html