Standard Chartered China Opens RMB Nostro Account for Islamic Bank
Standard Chartered Bank (China) has opened a renminbi (RMB) nostro account for Alinma Bank Saudi Arabia, one of the largest Islamic banks in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This is the first RMB nostro account opened with an Islamic bank since the launch of the RMB Cross-border Trade Settlement Scheme.
Standard Chartered Bank also signed RMB cross-border trade settlement account agreements with another four MENA-based banks: Bank Al Falah Pakistan, Habib Metropolitan Bank Pakistan and Union Bank Jordan. The move will allow these banks to open RMB nostro accounts at Standard Chartered China, through which Standard Chartered and the MENA-based banks will be able to help their clients to settle cross-border trade between China and MENA with RMB.
Peter Sun, head of transaction banking, Standard Chartered Bank (China), said: “This demonstrates Standard Chartered’s strong capabilities and commitment to providing RMB cross-border trade settlement solutions across our extensive footprint globally. As the trade volume between China and the MENA region continues to grow significantly year on year, Standard Chartered is well positioned to meet the increasing RMB requirements of our corporate and bank clients. Being one of the first banks conducting this business, we are very proud that Standard Chartered China has completed the largest amount of RMB settlement among foreign banks in China.”