Recently, CITIC BANK Shenzhen Branch successfully launched its FT account system and completed multiple business transactions, marking an important step forward in cross-border financial services and injecting new momentum into cross-border finance in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. On one hand, this helps the bank leverage the geographical advantages of the Greater Bay Area and the policy effectiveness of the free trade zone to quickly understand financial demands from Hong Kong, Macao, and international markets, integrate into pricing systems, and utilize FT accounts to help enterprises achieve integrated RMB and foreign currency management, precisely connect with offshore market prices, reduce financing costs, and design more flexible cross-border settlement and financing solutions. On the other hand, the bank can leverage CITIC Group's comprehensive financial license advantages to build a service closed loop of "account + product + scenario + ecosystem," focusing on cross-border investment and trade scenarios, using FT accounts to connect diversified financial services and help enterprises integrate into global economic circulation.
**01 Access to Free Trade Account System: 11 Years of Cross-Border Service Experience Building Strong Foundation**
In 2014, CITIC BANK became one of the first commercial banks approved to access the free trade account system in Shanghai Free Trade Zone. Over the subsequent 11 years, CITIC BANK successively launched FT account systems in Hainan, Guangzhou, and Tianjin, with free trade account foreign exchange trading, lease financing, cross-border factoring, syndicated loans, M&A financing and other businesses taking root and flourishing, providing multiple innovative practices for serving the real economy in free trade zones and promoting corporate cross-border investment and financing.
Against this backdrop, CITIC BANK extended the strategic layout of its FT account system to Shenzhen, a frontline position of reform and opening-up. On August 15, CITIC BANK Shenzhen Branch's FT account system successfully went live in Shenzhen, becoming CITIC BANK's "opening move" to leverage the "financial synergy effect of the dual cities of Shenzhen and Hong Kong" and "hub potential radiating nationwide."
On that day, multiple Shenzhen enterprises immediately enjoyed the multiple benefits brought by financial opening through this system, expressing confidence in using the FT account system to meet their diversified development needs more flexibly and quickly in the future.
Taking manufacturing enterprises with overseas financing needs as an example, obtaining overseas loans through FT accounts can address funding needs for local project construction and operations, significantly reduce financing costs, ensure market expansion speed, and achieve a compliant closed loop of "domestic credit support - overseas capital landing."
For technology companies planning to list in Hong Kong, they can flexibly arrange onshore and offshore exchange rate risk management tools through FT accounts, combining settlement with financing to help enterprises control exchange rate risks while improving financial stability.
As for numerous small and medium enterprises represented by cross-border e-commerce, they can achieve centralized management of multi-currency receipts and payments through FT accounts, significantly reducing enterprise account maintenance costs, while also using CITIC BANK's tailored "Cross-Border Flash Loan" products as financing supplements to effectively enhance risk resistance capabilities.
**02 Attracting Four Types of National Entities: Committed to Achieving "Nationwide Service from One Point"**
In the first seven months of 2025, Shenzhen's cumulative import and export reached 2.58 trillion yuan, continuing to rank first among mainland foreign trade cities. This year, facing a complex external environment, Shenzhen's foreign trade has moved forward under pressure, maintaining an upward and positive momentum. Among these, cross-border e-commerce, as a new format of foreign trade, plays an undeniably important role in stabilizing foreign trade. In 2024, Shenzhen's cross-border e-commerce import and export volume reached 372 billion yuan, ranking first nationwide for three consecutive years.
The vigorous development of cross-border e-commerce cannot be separated from Shenzhen's solid advanced manufacturing foundation. In 2024, Shenzhen's above-scale industrial output value exceeded 5.4 trillion yuan, maintaining the position as China's "Industrial City No. 1" for three consecutive years.
Whether it's the manufacturing strength of "Industrial City No. 1," the foreign trade scale ranking first, or the leading cross-border e-commerce nationwide, all depend on strong support and innovative empowerment from cross-border financial services.
Taking the opportunity of the FT account system's launch, CITIC BANK Shenzhen Branch leverages geographical advantages and policy dividends to actively attract four types of national entities: overseas central and state-owned enterprises, manufacturing enterprises going overseas, cross-border e-commerce overseas customer groups, and cross-border investment entities, committed to achieving the goal of "nationwide service from one point."
Through the FT account system providing customized cross-border financial support, the bank serves central and state-owned enterprises in infrastructure, energy and other fields "going global," achieving overseas project financing, flexibly deploying overseas low-cost funds, and improving cross-border capital utilization efficiency.
It serves "specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative" small giants and other manufacturing enterprises going overseas in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, achieving a "capital closed loop for technology going overseas," providing settlement services for cross-border technology transactions, and providing financing for overseas R&D centers.
It serves Qianhai Cross-Border E-commerce Industrial Park and South China City market procurement clusters, deeply embedding FT account business into this ecosystem to solve pain points such as "scattered capital settlement, broken financing chains, and difficult exchange rate risk control."
According to reports, CITIC BANK Shenzhen Branch's FT account layout serves as a strategic move for the entire bank, aimed at helping promote Shenzhen's upgrade from a "regional financial node" to a "national cross-border financial hub," truly achieving the value leap of FT account services "based in the Greater Bay Area, empowering all of China."
**03 Shenzhen-Hong Kong Cooperation and Group Synergy: Promoting Smooth Cross-Border Flow of Financial Elements in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area**
2025 marks the sixth anniversary of the release of the "Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area." As an important engine of Greater Bay Area construction, Shenzhen, backed by the vast mainland market, continues to burst with innovation vitality in industries such as cross-border e-commerce and specialized and innovative clusters. Hong Kong, as an important bridge and window connecting the mainland with the world, is a highly regarded investment hotbed and fertile ground for developing new quality productive forces. As Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation deepens and innovative cooperation platform construction accelerates, the new quality productive forces generated are leading the integrated development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
The deeper intention behind CITIC BANK Shenzhen Branch's promotion of FT account system construction lies in building more efficient "domestic and overseas financial dual channels" and weaving a more comprehensive "Shenzhen-Hong Kong cross-border service network." This is of great significance for steadily and orderly promoting financial market interconnectivity in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, building economic center cities and international metropolises with greater global influence, and serving Hong Kong's consolidation and enhancement of its international financial center status.
It is understood that CITIC BANK Shenzhen Branch will further leverage institutional advantages, geographical advantages, industrial advantages, and technological advantages to use FT accounts to connect the "domestic FT account - Hong Kong and Macao offshore account - international market" capital channel. Subsequently, enterprises can use FT accounts as a "bidirectional connector" to directly connect to offshore markets, supporting bidirectional capital flow; while Hong Kong, as an international financial center, with overseas offshore enterprises gathering global capital, offshore financial products, and professional service networks, can more conveniently participate in Greater Bay Area real industry investment through FT accounts.
Based on this foundation, CITIC BANK Shenzhen Branch will leverage CITIC Group's comprehensive financial license advantages, coordinating with the group's Hong Kong institutions such as CITIC Bank International and CITIC Securities International to provide enterprises with integrated solutions of "Shenzhen FT account + Hong Kong offshore services": On the financing side, CITIC Bank International provides "syndicated+" services for FT account enterprises to reduce corporate financing costs; on the investment side, relying on FT accounts, the bank designs cross-border M&A restructuring solutions for enterprises to achieve more business innovation.
As one of the earliest emerging commercial banks to serve Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, CITIC BANK Shenzhen Branch has actively participated in the construction of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, from supporting early infrastructure construction to assisting the rise of high-tech enterprises, and then serving national livelihood projects. Its 37-year journey rooted in Shenzhen is substantial and meaningful.
This launch of the FT account system is both CITIC BANK Shenzhen Branch's proactive integration into Greater Bay Area construction and strengthening of Shenzhen-Hong Kong financial synergy, as well as a necessary choice for serving Shenzhen's "pilot demonstration zone" national strategy and fulfilling the mission of financial opening.
Taking this as a new starting point, CITIC BANK Shenzhen Branch will continue to explore new paths for financial empowerment of the real economy, writing more "Shenzhen practices" for China's financial opening and regional coordinated development.