MOSCOW, November 18 (Sputnik) – Sberbank, Russia's largest bank, has begun financing of letters of credit in yuan (CNY), on behalf of corporate clients, the bank said in a press release Tuesday.
"The completion of these transactions in Chinese yuan allowed the client to not only meet its current financing and settlement needs, but also to continue actively cooperating with Chinese suppliers," the press release outlined.
The name of the company and the terms of the deal are not specified.
The Head of Trade Finance and Correspondent Banking Department Sberbank CIB, Andrey Ivanov, noted Russian and Chinese banks are currently enjoying successful partnership, especially in light of several agreements signed during the APEC CEO Summit 2014, held in Beijing, China in November.
“We are witnessing a positive trend of strengthening partnerships with Chinese banks, especially after the signing of a number of agreements at the APEC summit in Beijing this November. Currently we are seeing growth in Russian companies’ interest in settlements using national currencies, in particular Chinese yuan, and of course, Russian roubles," Ivanov was quoted as saying in the press release.
According to Sberbank, a letter of credit is traditionally considered the most secure form of settlement and a useful tool for financing foreign trade transactions.
