Offshore funds circulation
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一.Financial leasing,Allocation of Multinational Corporations' Funds Pools

       Use the domestic and foreign holding structure of the financial leasing company to funds dealings convenience Realization of capital   outbound ,or use the funds pool allocation of multinational companies to facilitate the realization of capital outbound.However, non-real transactions or investments in non-real projects are susceptible to compliance risks. In addition, the current cross-border RMB two-way fund pool is also subject to strict supervision.

      The RMB two-way fund pool business is the only relatively free renminbi cross-border flow channel for group companies. There is no clear limit to the amount of money,The basic principle is that multinational corporations have equity affiliates or subsidiaries both at home and abroad.You can choose a related company to open a cash sweep account for RMB in the domestic bank for the collection of RMB funds. The flow of funds from all affiliated enterprises to the " special account" is called " deposit up" and all borrowings from the fund pool are called " transfer down".Can realize the legal flow of offshore RMB to domestic territory, or   reverse the flow .The precondition is that the source of funds of the overseas subsidiary must be its operating cash flow, and it cannot be the RMB borrowed from the overseas bank.However, in practice, it is also difficult for domestic banks to obtain evidence of the sources of foreign capital. Generally speaking, they should be reasonably judged according to their business scale and the"three principles of exhibition industry".


The cross-border RMB two-way fund pool structure has the following two types:

The first kind: Without setting up cash sweep account of overseas fund pools, the funds of overseas member enterprises are directly collected into the main account of domestic fund pools.

The second kind: There is a fund pool both at home and abroad and then cross-border fund transfer is carried out.



     In terms of historical evolution, the cross-border two-way RMB fund pool business originated in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, which is February 2014.The PBC Shanghai Headquarters issued the Notice on Supporting the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone to Expand the Cross-border Use of the Renminbi (Bank Headquarters [2014] No. 22).

     In June 2014, it was further extended to the whole country.However, due to the lack of implementation rules, there are not many actual accounts for multinational companies.Until November 2014,The central bank issued the Notice on the Relevant Issues Concerning the Concentration Operation of Cross-border RMB Funds by Multinational Enterprise Groups (Yinfa [2014] No. 324) officially issued the implementation rules, which solves the obstacles at the legal level.Thereafter, in September 2015, the central bank issued Circular 279 to further facilitate the cross-border two-way RMB fund pool business of multinational enterprise groups.In April 2016, free trade zones in Guangdong, Fujian and other places also issued the Notice on Expanding Cross - border Use of RMB in the Pilot Free Trade Zone, also proposing the concept of capital pool .The main differences between the capital pools in Guangdong and other places and the national edition are:

Ⅰ.The fund pool Sponsor enterprise must be incorporated in the district and actually operate or invest.

Ⅱ.The total operating income of domestic member enterprises participating in fund cash sweep in the previous year shall not be less than 500 million yuan and the total operating income of overseas member enterprises in the previous year shall not be less than RMB 100 million, and the operating hours of domestic and foreign member companies shall be More than 1 year.

Ⅲ.Cross - border two-way RMB capital pool business in the region is subject to two-way ceiling management, Net cross-border capital inflow ( outflow ) ceiling = accrued owner's equity of domestic member enterprises x macro-prudential policy coefficient ( this coefficient is tentatively set at 1 ). In addition, other matters involved in cross-border two-way RMB fund pool business in the region,The relevant provisions of the Notice of the People's Bank of China on Further Facilitating the Transnational Enterprise's Cross-border Two-way RMB Fund Pool Business (Yinfa [2015] No. 279) are still applicable.


二.Domestic guarantee overseas loan



Ⅰ.After the guarantor directly deposits the cash in the domestic branch (or provides other collateral), the domestic branch provides a letter of guarantee or a standby letter of credit to the overseas branch, and the overseas branch provides the borrower with the loan.It is understood that under the current "control of outflow" regulatory situation, the examination and approval of Overseas Lending Secured By Domestic Guarantee, also subject to strict supervision.


Ⅱ.The guarantor and the borrower need to have an associated relationship, preferably 100% hold controlling interest.However, at present some operations do not have an associated relationship, and a surface relationship is created by signing an entrusted shareholding.


Ⅲ.Exchange Rate Risk Avoidance: Forward Foreign Exchange Locking ( Forward Foreign Exchange Settlement and Sale ). In the case of frequent exchange rate fluctuations,The bank handles the operation of locking the exchange rate for the enterprise.The bank through signs a foreign exchange settlement and sales agreement with the customer, and stipulates the foreign exchange currency, amount, term and exchange rate of future foreign exchange settlement or sale.When it is due, it shall conduct settlement and sale of foreign exchange in accordance with the currency, amount and exchange rate indicated in this agreement .On the day of settlement, foreign exchange is not settled at the exchange rate of the day, but is settled at the rate determined before, in order to avoid the exchange rate risk.


Ⅳ.Cost description

(1)Overseas interest:240bp+3 months libor=2.4%+ about 0.6%=3%.

(2)Letter of guarantee cost:Low 1/1000 (such as Xiamen bank), 2% of high (such as ICBC).

(3)Service charge:Some banks are not, some banks 1%-2%.

(4)Capital Entry Fee ( Passage Fee ):1%-5%.

(5)Exchange rate difference and Locked Exchange Rate: The exchange rate difference is calculated based on the offshore RMB exchange rate, and Forward   Foreign exchange purchasing cost is about 3%.


Ⅴ.Purpose of funds

     The funds use of Domestic deposits guarantee overseas loans,According to the provisions of Article 11 of the Regulations on Foreign Exchange Control of Cross-Border Guarantees: 「“"The use of funds under Domestic deposits guarantee overseas loans shall meet the following requirements: (1) The funds under the Domestic deposits guarantee overseas loans shall be used only for the relevant expenses within the normal business scope of the debtor.It shall not be used to support the debtor to engage in related transactions other than the normal business scope, nor to arbitrage under fictitious trade background, or to engage in other forms of speculative transactions.」 Therefore,Through fictitious trade backgrounds and other means carry out Speculative arbitrage, in order to achieve capital outbound,There is a compliance risk.


Ⅵ.Limitation analysis

(1)According to the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on the Administration of Foreign Guarantees by Domestic Institutions (State Administration of Foreign Exchange issued [2010] 39).「二.The State Administration of Foreign Exchange carries out the remaining sum management or the One by one approval management method for the foreign guarantee provided by domestic institutions.The State Administration of foreign exchange   put into practice the remaining sum management for the domestic banks providing financing external guarantee; Providing external guarantees to   non-banking financial institutions and enterprises shall be One by one approval is the main, and remaining sum management may be implemented if certain conditions are met.」It can be seen that in the case of domestic banks providing financing guarantees, Domestic deposits guarantee overseas loans occupy the bank's balance indicators.For「 Domestic deposits guarantee overseas loans」 business, the amount of financing guaranteed by the bank shall not exceed 50% of the bank's own net assets.Small and medium-sized joint-stock banks are often in a state of full use of the Domestic deposits guarantee overseas loans quota. And can only wait for enterprises to repay their loans to free up new quotas.Large state-owned banks are also often very nervous.


(2)Domestic deposits guarantee overseas loans are mostly used for liquidity replenishment, and the cycle is relatively short (e.g. one-year), So the various problems caused by repayment can not be avoided, repayment or not directly affects the bad debt rate of banks.

三.Domestic deposits guarantee overseas loans, Domestic deposits guarantee offshore loans

      Domestic deposits guarantee overseas loans Refers to the deposit of funds by domestic companies in domestic banks as RMB security deposit   with a maturity of 2-3 years.The bank's overseas bank provides loans to the company's overseas subsidiaries or special purpose companies, and the overseas loans are due to be repaid on time.If foreign loans cannot be repaid, the domestic company will prestore the deposit pre-existing in the domestic bank as the profit of the enterprise and realize   the profit from the group level;The overseas bank treats the overseas loan as bad debts, and the domestic bank can handle its collateral by auction, sale, etc .And earn the income as profit.Such operations are more common inbank with foreign capital banks.

      Domestic deposits guarantee offshore loans   refers to the domestic company (domestic pledgor, the registered address of the domestic enterprise also needs to meet certain requirements)   deposit of funds in domestic banks as RMB security deposit   with a maturity of 2-3 years.The domestic bank directly issues offshore US dollar or Hong Kong dollar loans to overseas borrowers.A domestic company that is a domestic pledgor needs to obtain an ODI certificate for an enterprise that has an overseas investment behavior. At least one of the domestic or overseas entities is an actual operating entity, and it is necessary to provide statements, tax bills, bank account statement of account etc. To prove the existence of verifiable operating income.

      There is no need to open a letter of guarantee or a certificate for To a certain extent, it is not limited by the size of the   Domestic deposits guarantee overseas loans   above and Domestic deposits guarantee offshore loans . To a certain extent, it is not limited by the size of the   Domestic deposits guarantee overseas loans   above.These businesses are regarded as "pawnshop business" of banks.The business is in a gray area,At present, only some banks have related businesses.With the supervision   increasing of funds leaving the country, this business of some banks may also be subject to strict supervision.


四. Offshore fund channel

     Offshore funds are funds registered outside the host country and usually established in offshore jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Mauritius, Bermuda, etc.These areas are relatively lax in their regulation of the fund, where local governments exempt the fund from taxes on non-local income, some of which can be publicly issued globally.

      Due to the flexibility of SPC, such funds currently established in Cayman are more common.When making capital leave the country declaration, it can be declared as a company to be established in Cayman for equity acquisition or industrial investment.Cayman company is mainly used as a channel for fund payment in the entire structure, and it is delivered to the target company through Cayman company.According to the agreement, the equity acquired overseas is held by Cayman company or held by domestic entities.


五.Funds outbound under operating items

      With 「import」 as the keynote, external payments can be realized by means of supply chain and other trade channels. The passageway enterprise has a large amount of funds (or a pool of funds), it may adopt domestically received RMB, and abroad direct release foreign currency, both sides hedge.Less powerful trade enterprises can complete external payments through trade.First, it is possible to use overseas high selling form to pay externally.Second, it may be circulation in the form of pure notes (false trade).


Ⅰ.Trade matched order

To place orders with foreign companies in the name of a domestic company, to make payments to overseas companies by prepaid Deposit + issuing letter of credit, after payment of the deposit, the domestic company unilaterally defaulted, the overseas company rescinds the contract and confiscates the deposit as compensation, and transfers the funds overseas.But such a way is false trade, easy to be included in the bank's attention, and there are compliance issues.

Ⅱ.Use of profits retained abroad
     Some enterprises in foreign trade   through "high report imports, low export" way, the large number of profits retained in overseas.For example, by introducing new high-tech product False increase in price(the   False increase in priceof ordinary goods is more easily distinguish by customs).will Profit keep back in overseas.For example, When domestic trading companies export goods to Hong Kong trading companies at parity,
the Hong Kong trading Company will then sell the goods to Europe and the US in the market price to achieve the purpose of keeping profits in Hong Kong.


Three party agreements signed by mainland companies, supply chain companies and suppliers.It is agreed that the Hong Kong subsidiary of the mainland supply chain company   receive a 20% deposit from the mainland company’s Hong Kong affiliates,The mainland supply chain company made advances to suppliers to purchase goods for mainland companies.
The Hong Kong company controlled by the actual controller of the mainland company pays a 20% deposit to the Hong Kong subsidiary of the supply chain company.
Continental supply Chain company to pay all the purchase money to the suppliers, for the mainland company advance procurement.
The supply chain company   in its own name   apply to the customs and sells it to its Hong Kong subsidiary.
The Hongkong subsidiary of the supply chain sells the goods to the Hongkong company controlled by the actual controller of the mainland company.
Mainland companies in the Amazon, Ebay and other e-commerce platform to sell products to consumers.
⑦Consumers pay through third party payment institutions.
⑧Cash the sales proceeds to the Hongkong associated company's cash account or the personal account opened in Hongkong.(Cross-border e-commerce companies usually designate offshore personal accounts as their final beneficiary accounts, Therefore, the cross-border electricity supplier has a large amount of funds left abroad.)

⑨Hong Kong companies controlled by the actual controller of the mainland company pay the remaining 80% of thePayment for goods to the Hong Kong subsidiary of the supply chain company.


      At present,such as there is a large amount of money being retained offshore by companies such as cross-border e-commerce.Therefore, the funds outbound Demand side can sign an agreement with mainland cross-border e-commerce companies and supply chain companies.It is agreement that the outbound demand side for funds shall fulfill the obligation of advance payment to the supplier, Foreign affiliates of cross-border e-commerce, using funds retained outside the country, pay the relevant funds to the overseas accounts of the funds   outbound demand side party.Not only meet the financing needs of some cross-border e-commerce which need leverage and operate light assets,It also meets the demand   for overseas use of capital outbound demand side.

      But at present, the entry and exit of funds under normal trade are monitored,Under regulatory policies that emphasize balanced entry and exit.According to the regulations of Huifa [2017] No. 3.「六.Perfecting current account Foreign Exchange income   deposit overseas statistics.Domestic institutions keep export income or service trade income overseas for various reasons.But not in accordance with Notice of the State Administration of foreign exchange on issues related to the issuance of regulations on foreign exchange control of trade in goods(Hui Fa [2012] No. 38) ,Notice of the State Administration of foreign exchange on the issuance of regulations governing foreign exchange in trade in services(Hui Fat [2013] No. 30)etc ,Those who go through the formalities for registration and filing of foreign exchange management or submit information shall report relevant information on their own initiative within one month from the date of promulgation of this Notice.」The foreign Exchange Bureau has carried out the key monitoring, special verification and classification management for the foreign trade enterprises that have the goods export without corresponding payment income.In addition, according to the regulations of Detailed rules for the implementation of the guidelines on the Administration of Foreign Exchange in Trade in goods.Domestic institutions shall handle foreign exchange income and expenditure business in accordance with the principle of 「who exports who collects foreign exchange , who imports who pays foreign exchange」.After export,   according to the contract all the payment for goods shall be recovered in time or stored outside the country as required.Because the above mode is actually a violation of foreign exchange management regulations, there is a compliance problem in this way of operation.

Offshore funds circulation


Ⅲ.Payment of service fees and dividends, etc

     At present, the regulatory attitude toward the   leave the country of funds under recurrent conditions is the principle of authenticity.In accordance with the provisions of the guidelines on Foreign Exchange Administration of Trade in Services, the outbound of funds under trade in services should be realized by means of service charges, etc.Need to provide the bank with the elements of the Transaction target, the main body, etc Such as Contract (agreement), invoice (notice of payment) or the subject matter of the transaction, subject matter, amount, etc., the settlement list of these elements (payment list) document.Banks should examine the authenticity and reasonableness of transactions according to Three principles of banking industry.Under the current situation of strict supervision of capital outbound, financial institutions may submit to the higher-level banking institutions for review when large-scale external payments are involved.

   
   Although the current policy encourages the establishment of foreign-funded enterprises within the territory (FDI), it is advantageous for domestic direct investment and cross-border capital inflow. This inflow of funds, when the foreign exchange settlement into the renminbi is limited to a certain extent.In accordance with the requirements of the Circular of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Further Promoting the Reform of Foreign Exchange Management and Perfecting the Audit of True Compliance, "Continue to Implement and Perfect the Foreign Exchange Profit Remittance Management Policy of Direct Investment ,Bank for domestic institutions to handle the equivalent of more than $50,000 (excluding) profits remitted business, Should be reviewed on the basis of real trading principles and This profit remittance related board profit distribution resolution (or partner profit distribution resolution),Original tax record form, audited financial statements,and stamped on the original of the relevant tax filing form and endorsement of the export amount and the date of export.Before the profits of domestic institutions are remitted, the previous year's losses should be made up according to law.


六.Derivative mode

      Domestic banks can directly sign contracts for derivatives with foreign banks without the need for basic transactions.If the entity enterprise has the basic creditor's rights or the transaction can sign the derivative agreement .Through special arrangements, domestic investors can indirectly participate in the cross-border derivative transactions of banks and "risk participation" in overseas base assets, and obtain the corresponding cross-border asset management income, and actually achieve the purpose of capital outbound.

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