The Guangdong Branch of Bank of Communications Co., Ltd. (SHSE: 601328) has successfully launched its Free Trade Account (FT Account) system, marking the bank's achievement of full FT account service coverage across all national pilot regions, including Shanghai, Hainan, Guangdong, Tianjin, and Shenzhen. This milestone expands the bank's reach in providing free trade financial services and solidifies a key competitive advantage. By leveraging integrated account services, the bank aims to effectively attract new foreign-funded projects within these zones, serve cross-border entities across industrial chains and corporate groups with operations in multiple locations, thereby enhancing client loyalty and strengthening its customer base.
Overview of the FT Account System
The FT Account system is a core infrastructure for China's high-level opening-up, creating a special financial environment within pilot zones that aligns with international financial markets while remaining relatively segregated from the domestic market. It facilitates efficient cross-border capital flows, greatly easing cross-border trade, investment, financing, and fund management for enterprises, significantly reducing financing costs and enhancing global resource allocation capabilities. As early as 2014 and 2019, Bank of Communications was among the first batch of pilot banks to launch the FT Account system in Shanghai and Hainan, respectively. Utilizing this system, the bank has actively piloted innovations in cross-border financing, omnifunctional cash pooling, and free trade offshore bonds, accumulating replicable and scalable experience that provides crucial support and practical examples for China's alignment with high-standard international trade and economic rules and its steady advancement of institutional opening-up.
Business Growth and Service Development
In recent years, the business scale of Bank of Communications's Free Trade Accounting Unit (FTU) has seen sustained growth. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the FTU's asset scale achieved a compound annual growth rate exceeding 50%. By the end of the first quarter of 2026, the year-on-year growth rate surpassed 80%. During the 139th Canton Fair in April 2026, Bank of Communications unveiled a comprehensive free trade financial service solution. This solution leverages the advantages of the FT Account accounting unit platform, centered around a "five-in-one" cross-border financial account system, effectively breaking down barriers between domestic and international, local and foreign currency, and onshore and offshore financial services. It provides domestic and international enterprises with a one-stop, comprehensive, and full-lifecycle financial solution encompassing cross-border settlement and financing.
Future Strategic Direction
Bank of Communications will continue to explore the functional value of FT accounts, precisely meet the diverse needs of foreign-related enterprises and cross-border business models, deepen collaboration with enterprises, capitalize on the benefits of free trade zone policy pilots, and continuously update and iterate its free trade financial service offerings. The bank aims to support high-level regional opening-up and the high-quality development of the real economy through superior cross-border financial services.
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