Announcement of the China Foreign Exchange Trade System on Launching Direct Trading between the Renminbi and Thai Baht

· Document Number：No. 6 [2018] of the China Foreign Exchange Trade System

· Area of Law： Foreign Exchange

· Level of Authority： Departmental Rules

· Date issued：02-02-2018

· Effective Date：02-02-2018

· Status： Effective

· Issuing Authority： China Foreign Exchange Trading Center & National Interbank Funding Center

Announcement of the China Foreign Exchange Trade System on Launching Direct Trading between the Renminbi and Thai Baht
(No. 6 [2018] of the China Foreign Exchange Trade System)
For the purposes of promoting bilateral trade and investment between China and Thailand, facilitating the use of Renminbi (RMB) and Thai Baht (THB) in the settlement of trade and investment, and meeting the needs of economic entities for reducing transaction costs of converting currencies, with the authorization of the People's Bank of China, the trading mode between RMB and THB on the inter-bank foreign exchange market shall be improved from February 5, 2018 via transforming regional trading between RMB and THB to direct trading between RMB and THB.
I. The spot, forward, and swap transactions between RMB and THB shall be conducted on the interbank foreign exchange market. All institutions with the membership of the interbank RMB-foreign exchange market may conduct direct trading between RMB and THB on the interbank foreign exchange market.
II. A direct trade market maker system shall be implemented for the trade between RMB and THB on the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market and the direct trade market makers shall assume the corresponding obligation, continuously provide two-way price quotation for the direct trade between RMB and THB and provide the market with the liquidity.
III. The People's Bank of China has authorized the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (“CFETS”) to publish, at 9:15 a.m. of every working day, the RMB/THB central parity rate of the day. The RMB/THB central parity rate shall be formed as follows: the CFETS inquires of market markers of direct trading between RMB and THB on the interbank foreign exchange market before the opening of the interbank foreign exchange market every day, and decides the RMB/THB central parity rate of the current day on the average of the quotations of all market makers of direct trading, after excluding the highest and lowest quotations.
IV. The RMB/THB trading price on the interbank spot foreign exchange market may fluctuate within 10% around the RMB/THB central parity rate announced by the CFETS.
V. The time of trading between RMB and THB shall remain consistent with the time of direct trading of other currency pairs.
VI. To actively cooperate with the “Belt and Road” initiative of the state, handling charges for direct trading between RMB and THB shall not be collected temporarily until July 31, 2020.
VII. The CFETS shall administer the operation of direct trading between RMB and THB on the inter-bank foreign exchange market, and effectively provide technical support.
China Foreign Exchange Trade System
February 2, 2018