Retail forex brokers making it easier for China clients to deposit and trade
Cyprus based retail forex broker ForexTime has announced that it is starting to accept card transactions denominated in CNY through China UnionPay (CUP). This is the only bank card organization which is based in China operating under the supervision of the People’s Bank Of China.
It is headquartered in the financial hub of mainland China – Shanghai and it is linking the ATMs of fourteen major banks around the world with the Chinese banking system. Deposit fees through China Union Pay are pretty hefty at 4.25% + 0.50 with the maximum amount for a single deposit being limited to $5000. Withdrawals are much cheaper with a flat fee of 3 USD per transaction.
The premium might be quite substantial, but as most of Chinese residents know wiring money out of the country can be a very complicated process that involves a huge amount of paperwork. So for now even as we are not familiar with fee structures in the Chinese banking system, with capital control regulations still in place, this might be one of the few ways to access the foreign exchange market.
We expect to continue to see more retail forex brokers make it easier for Chinese clients to deposit and trade, as more focus and marketing dollars go into the region.
For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.