China's banks' foreign exchange settlement and sales in September increased by 17% month-on-month, and foreign-related transactions remained active

China News Service, Beijing, October 20 (Tao Siyue) Statistics released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange of China on the 20th showed that in US dollar terms, in September 2026, banks settled US$294.2 billion in foreign exchange, sold US$238 billion in foreign exchange, and had a surplus of US$56.2 billion in foreign exchange settlement and sales. The scale of foreign exchange settlement and sales increased by 17% month-on-month.

From January to September 2026, banks’ cumulative foreign exchange settlement was US$2,377.6 billion, and cumulative foreign exchange sales were US$1,983.5 billion.

Li Bin, deputy director and spokesman of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said that since September, the central banks of Europe, the United States and Japan have successively raised interest rates, some economies have experienced large fluctuations in the foreign exchange and bond markets, and the international financial market continues to fluctuate and adjust. China's foreign exchange market is operating generally soundly.

Li Bin said that from the overall situation, foreign-related transactions remained active, market expectations were basically stable, and the settlement and sales exchange rates of enterprises and other entities increased month-on-month; at the same time, cross-border funds maintained a net inflow. In September, the net inflow of cross-border funds from non-banking sectors such as enterprises and individuals was US$40.7 billion, a month-on-month decrease of 35%.

"From the perspective of channel characteristics, funds under trade in goods continue to have a large net inflow." Li Bin said that the service trade deficit is relatively stable. Among them, Chinese residents have a strong willingness to travel abroad and foreigners travel to China, and travel income and expenditure remain at a high level.

In addition, foreign direct investment by enterprises has increased, among which domestic financing to overseas affiliated enterprises has increased rapidly. Li Bin believes that this is related to changes in internal and external interest rates, and to a certain extent also reflects the enhanced function of the RMB financing currency.