IBJ's yuan trade grows

The Industrial Bank of Japan in Shanghai has received at least 20 applications for loans in Chinese yuan since it began doing business in the local currency about 10 weeks ago, Xinhua (the New China News Agency) reported.

The bank, one of the first foreign banks in China licensed to do business in yuan, expects to provide yuan loans to 'three or four' Japanese firms doing business in China this month, the report quoted branch president Kiyoshige Akamatsu as saying.

While transactions in yuan now accounted for less than 2 per cent of the branch's business, Mr Kiyoshige forecast that would rise to 10 per cent in the near future.