Settlements in Chinese yuan available to corporate customers of Bank Millennium

- First of all this is a response to business needs involved with the growing trade exchange with China. The introduction of settlements in Chinese yuan will allow payments to be sent to the recipient in the local currency, thus eliminating the cost of currency conversion on the exporter’s side. It also shortens the time for settlements and improves liquidity management, as well as allowing easier valuation of goods and simplification of trade procedures between parties to the contract. This is also an opportunity for Polish importers to get better prices or better terms and conditions of the contracts. This makes Polish companies more competitive - Marta Postek, Director of the Transactional Banking Department in Bank Millennium said.

An international transfer in yuan allows the customer to send the payment to the recipient directly in this currency, without the need for currency conversion using intermediary currencies. Bank Millennium processes yuan transfers via SWIFT, with standard processing procedure. Customers may order them via the Millenet internet banking system, where SWIFT/BIC/CNAPS codes will be checked automatically and the transfer will be formatted in accordance with requirements of Chinese banks, which assures maximum effectiveness of settlements.

As regards trade finance solutions available in yuan, Bank Millennium offers documentary letters of credit, bank guarantees and reguarantees as well as documentary collection. Import and export guarantees as well as own and third-party guarantees in yuan are also available to customers online in the Millenet internet banking system.

China is a major trade partner of Poland. In recent years the trade exchange with China has been growing. During ten years import from China tripled, while export has increased two and a half times.

- In 2016 China was the second most important import partner of Poland, after Germany (accounting for over 12% of total imports i.e. USD 23.9bn). We were importing mainly machines and equipment from China - in 2016 they accounted for 53.7% of total imports (USD 12.9bn), textiles (11.3% and USD 2.7bn), as well as miscellaneous manufactured goods (8.8% and USD 2.1bn). In terms of sectors in 2016 the Chinese market was most important for importers of footwear and headgear – in 2016 41.4% of this sector’s imports came from China. On the other hand exports were dominated by machines and equipment (30.5% and USD 0.6bn); also one of the most important exports is copper and copper products. We are also exporting food products to China – dairy products, meat or confectionery. In November 2016 the Chinese market also opened for fresh Polish apples– Grzegorz Maliszewski, Chief Economist of Bank Millennium said.