三星將以人民幣結算在華交易

Samsung Electronics has outlined plans to start trading renminbi in South Korea, giving a boost to the nascent local market as Seoul seeks to capitalise on China’s drive to internationalise its currency.

三星電子(Samsung Electronics)宣佈計劃，將開始在韓國交易人民幣。在韓國希望搭上人民幣國際化順風車之際，三星此舉將促進新興的韓國人民幣市場的發展。

Direct trading of the Chinese and South Korean currencies began in Seoul on December 1, reflecting increasingly close economic co-operation between the countries that is also expected to bring the conclusion of a trade agreement in the next few months.

人民幣與韓元自去年12月1日開始可以直接交易，反映出兩國之間的經濟合作越來越密切，預計這將在未來幾個月促成一項貿易協議的締結。

Samsung said on Thursday that it would begin using the local market from March 16 to settle transactions with its subsidiaries in China, thereby becoming the first major South Korean group to make use of it.

三星週四表示，將從3月16日起，利用首爾人民幣市場，結算與其在華子公司的交易，從而成爲第一家利用該市場的大型韓國企業。

The entry to the market of South Korea’s biggest company, and one of the biggest investors in China, may encourage other companies to follow suit, said Choi Ji-young, director of exchange regulation at Seoul’s finance ministry.

首爾財政司匯率監管負責人Choi Ji-young表示，這家韓國最大企業、中國最大投資者之一進入該市場，可能會鼓勵其他企業也這麼做。

Volumes on the new market have risen steadily even without the participation of major companies. The finance ministry said average daily trading volumes this week in South Korea’s interbank won-renminbi market were about Rmb10bn ($1.6bn), compared with about $10bn on the won-dollar market.

即便沒有大企業的參與，這個新市場的交易額也一直在穩步增加。首爾財政司表示，本週，韓國韓元-人民幣銀行間市場的平均日交易額大約爲100億元人民幣(合16億美元)，韓元-美元市場大約爲100億美元。

The official recognition last July of Seoul as an offshore renminbi trading centre, by appointing Bank of Communications as the city’s renminbi clearing bank, followed similar moves for Hong Kong, London, Frankfurt and Singapore.

去年7月，首爾正式成爲人民幣離岸交易中心，交通銀行(Bank of Communications)成爲首爾人民幣清算行。此前香港、倫敦、法蘭克福和新加坡都已成爲人民幣離岸交易中心。

Since then cities including Toronto, Bangkok and Sydney have followed, as China seeks to encourage greater international use of its currency: a trend that would reduce funding costs for its companies and help them expand abroad.

多倫多、曼谷和悉尼等城市也緊隨其後成人民幣離岸交易中心。中國希望鼓勵擴大人民幣在國際市場的使用範圍，以降低中國企業的融資成本並幫助它們在海外擴張。

South Korea hopes that the growth of a renminbi market in Seoul could reduce currency transaction costs for its companies’ trade and investment transactions with China, which is by far the country’s biggest trading partner.

韓國希望，首爾人民幣市場的壯大能夠降低韓國企業與中國的貿易和投資間的外匯交易成本。中國是目前韓國最大的貿易伙伴國。

But Mr Choi said that the key development for the market would be greater use of the renminbi for trade settlement: only 1.7 per cent of South Korea’s exports to China by value in February were settled in renminbi, and only 1 per cent of imports.

Choi Ji-young表示，該市場的重要進展將是擴大人民幣在貿易結算中的使用：今年2月，在韓國對華出口中，只有1.7%以人民幣結算，在韓國進口中只有1%以人民幣結算。