The China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park. [Photo/WeChat account: gh_df8bc987e060]

A pilot project in Qinzhou to promote cross-border financial innovation and reform was listed as a "typical case of China's reform in 2021" on Jan 18 by a magazine named China Reform.

The list covers more than 1,500 cases in economics, politics, and culture involving reform hotspots for the year, such as building a new development pattern, furthering high-quality development, technological innovation, optimizing the business environment, as well as digital reform.

This pilot project involves the China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park (CMQIP), which is a cooperative project between the Chinese and Malaysian governments, as well as the third international park jointly constructed by the Chinese government and a foreign government partner.

The People's Bank of China has allowed for five financial innovation pilot projects in CMQIP, including convenient cross-border RMB two-way flow facilitation, cross-border RMB interbank financing, RMB loans for overseas projects in the CMQIP, the cross-border transfer of domestic credit assets, as well as the simplification of offshore transfers of RMB bank settlement accounts for overseas institutions.

As of Jan 20, 45 branches of 12 banks in this pilot area have been registered, while five pilot businesses have been implemented, with an amount exceeding 11 billion yuan ($1.74 billion). The quality and efficiency of innovative pilot services for the real economy have steadily improved.