Lately, the People's Bank of China ("PBC") has released four revised regimes, including the Measures for the Management of the Electronic Commercial Draft System (the "Measures"), all of which take effect immediately from the issue date.
The Measures provide for that relevant business concerning electronic commercial drafts, such as registration, circulation and settlement, must be processed through the electronic commercial draft system of the Shanghai Commercial Paper Exchange Corporation Ltd. ("SHCPE") and other relevant systems. A system participant shall access the electronic commercial draft system by way of direction connection through the access point. Meanwhile, the Measures expressly state that the SHCPE will, under the PBC's guidance, accept and examine applications filed by system participants for entry, alteration and exit. Financial institutions in the electronic commercial draft system shall meet relevant conditions, including "having a high value payment system bank number". Moreover, the Measures note that, a financial institution intending to offer agency services for electronic commercial draft business shall obtain consent from the SHCPE with each legal person as the unit. Agencies shall ramp up their efforts in the management of qualifications of institutions, for which they act as agents, and their daily management.