Chinese bank borrows first KRW funds from swap deal

SEOUL - A Chinese bank borrowed the first South Korean won (KRW) funds that came from the currency swap deal between Seoul and Beijing, the South Korean central bank said Friday.

China's Bank of Communications has borrowed a total of 400 million won ($392,000) from the People's Bank of China (PBOC) to lend the funds to a China-based multinational company and a joint-venture company, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The PBOC will receive the won funds from a loan facility that uses the currency swap line set up jointly with the BOK.

The two central banks signed an agreement in October 2011 to extend their currency swap deal for another three years, doubling the value of the contract to 360 billion yuan, or 64 trillion won (about $59 billion).

The PBOC and the BOK agreed in December 2012 to use the swap line to support trade settlement in respective currencies for domestic companies.

Under the agreement, South Korean firms are able to borrow the yuan funds for trade settlement from local banks, to which the BOK will lend the yuan funds secured through the currency swap line with the PBOC, or vice versa.

The Bank of Communications became the first Chinese bank that borrowed the South Korean won funds from the yuan-won swap deal.

South Korea has pushed to expand such deals with other nations. On Monday, the BOK inked an agreement with its Malaysian counterpart to support trade settlement in the won and the ringgit for respective local companies.

As of May, South Korea signed currency swap deals worth around $80.6 billion, including contracts with China, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Australia and Indonesia each worth 56 billion dollars, $5.4 billion, $4.7 billion, $4.5 billion and $10 billion each.

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