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The People’s Bank of China Measures for the Administration of Representative Offices of Foreign Financial Institutions in China the People’s Bank of China April 29, 1996 ContentsChapter I General Provisions Chapter II Application and Establishment Procedures Chapter III Supervision and Administration of the Representative Offices Chapter IV Cancellation Chapter V Penalty Provisions Chapter VI Supplemental Provisions Chapter I General Provisions Article 1 These Measures has been formulated in accordance with the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of Financial Article 2 The foreign financial institutions referred to in these Measures are the commercial banks, investment banks, merchant banks, securities Article 3 The representative offices must abide by the laws and regulations of the People’s Republic of China and their lawful rights and interests Article 4 The People’s Bank of China is the organ to be responsible for the examination and approval of the representative offices and for the Chapter II Application and Establishment Procedures Article 5 The following conditions should be met in applying for the establishment of representative offices: 1. There are sound financial supervision and administration regimes in the applicants’ countries or regions; 2. The applicants should be financial institutions set up with the approval of the financial supervision and administration authorities 3. The applicants must conduct their business lawfully, have sound credibility, and were making profit in the previous three consecutive Article 6 The following documents shall be presented in applying for the establishment of a representative office: 1. an application letter addressed to the governor of the People’s Bank of China, signed by the Chairman of the board of directors or 2. business license (duplicate) or legal business-opening certificate (duplicate), approved and issued by responsible authorities of 3. articles of association and roster of the board of directors or of the major partners of the company; 4. annual reports of the previous three years before the application; 5. approval documents produced by the financial supervision and administration authorities or a recommendation letter produced by the 6. other materials as required by the People’s Bank of China. The items listed in this article, except those stated in the fourth paragraph, if written in foreign languages, shall have Chinese Article 7 In applying for establishing a representative office in a provincial capital, the application documents shall be presented to the Article 8 After preliminary examination and approval of the application for establishing a representative office, an official application form 1. identification papers and resume of the proposed head representative; 2. the power of attorney signed by the chairman of the board of directors or general manager on the entrustment of the head representative; All the materials listed in this article, if written in foreign languages, shall have Chinese versions attached. If the official application An application is seen as rejected if an official application form is not received within 6 months since the submission of the application Article 9 Foreign financial institutions have already set up more than five (including five) representative offices inside China can apply for The application process for establishing general representative offices is the same as that for establishing representative offices. Article 10 A representative office’s name should be consisted of the following items in order: “name of the foreign financial institution”, “name Article 11 Approval certificates for representative offices approved to be established are issued by the People’s Bank of China, with the effective Chapter III Supervision and Administration of the Representative Offices Article 12 The representative offices and its personnel should not sign with other legal persons and natural persons any agreements or contracts Article 13 The post of head representative should not be assumed concurrently by the responsible persons of the head administrative office or Article 14 A representative office should submit an annual report on the previous year’s work before the end of each February to a local People’s Article 15 The following major developments of the foreign financial institutions that have established representative offices in China should 1. Changes of the articles of association, registered capital or registered addresses concerned; 2. institution reshuffling, division, merger or change of major leading persons; 3. serious losses in operations. Article 16 An application should be filed with the local People’s Bank of China branch office by the representatives and then transferred to 1. change of the head representative in which case an application and the power of attorney, signed by the chairman of board of directors 2. change of name in which case an application signed by the chairman of board of directors or general manager of the foreign financial 3. extension of the representative office’s terms of operation in China in which case an application paper signed by the chairman of Article 17 Reports should be submitted to People’s Bank of China branch offices for approval or for the record under the following circumstances: 1. a change, an increase or a reduce of representatives, deputy representatives, personnel with foreign nationalities or from Hong Kong, 2. change of address, in which case applications for address change signed by the head representatives should be submitted to the local 3. employment of Chinese nationals as staff members, in which case roster, identification papers and resume’s of the Chinese nationals Chapter IV Cancellation Article 18 Upon abolishment of a representative office, an application signed by the chairman of the board of directors or general manager of Article 19 When change of a representative office into a business branch or general representative office, the original representative office Article 20 After abolishment of a representative office, all pending affairs should be handled by the general representative office, if there Chapter V Penalty Provisions Article 21 Representative offices established without authorization in violation of these Measures will be nullified by the People’s Bank of Article 22 When a head representative holds concurrent offices with other institutions without authorization in violation of Article 13 of these Article 23 If a representative office/general representative office fails to submit relative documents in time in violation of Articles 14 and Article 24 Engagement in business activities in violation of Articles 2 and 12 of these Measures and change of related matters without approval Article 25 Violations of Articles 2, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17, in addition to penalties by the People’s Bank of China in accordance with these Article 26 Violations of both these Measures and the registration laws and regulations shall be punished jointly by the People’s Bank of China Chapter VI Supplemental Provisions Article 27 These Measures is applicable to the establishment in the Chinese territory of representative offices by financial institutions from Article 28 These Measures shall be interpreted by the People’s Bank of China. Article 29 These Measures enter into force as of the date of promulgation, Measures of the People’s Bank of China on the Administration of Establishment |
The People’s Bank of China
1996-04-29