From August 1, 2009, all qualified foreign and Chinese-funded banks which are established in China are eligible to open domestic foreign-exchange accounts for overseas institutions to provide related financial services.

Under the Circular on the Relevant Issues Concerning the Domestic Foreign-exchange Account Management of Overseas Institutions (Circular), which was released by China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) on July 13, 2009, incomes and expenses which are processed in the domestic foreign-exchange accounts of overseas institutions shall be managed as the cross-board transactions.
The Circular also urged the banks to label the domestic foreign-exchange accounts of overseas institutions in a unified form, and shall involve such accounts into the management of the foreign-exchange account management system.

Rules for M&A by Foreign Investment Amended
Ministry of Commerce of PRC (MOFCOM) amended Provisions for the Acquisition of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors (Provision) at the end of July where anti-monopoly investigation has been replaced by the requirement of report concentration of business operators. However, establishment of the special purpose vehicles (SPV) for list overseas is still subject to the examination and approval of MOFCOM.

The Provision since its promulgation in September 2006 has become a hurdle for a domestic company to list overseas through a SPV structure.

 (Source: China Security Press)