So far, a total of 13 banks with as many as 1,500 branches around the island have applied to the Central Bank of the Republic of China (CBC) to handle exchange between the Taiwanese and Chinese currencies, and they are expected to obtain operating licenses from the CBC this morning.

Among the banks are Bank of Taiwan, Land Bank of Taiwan, Mega International Bank, Chinatrust Commercial Bank, Changhwa Commercial Bank, First Commercial Bank, Hua Nan Commercial Bank, Taiwan Cooperative Bank, Yuanta Commercial Bank, Taipei Fubon Bank, Citibank and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp.

The CBC can hardly guarantee a sufficient supply of Chinese yuan for customers in Taiwan at the initial stage, as China’s monetary authority has yet to promise to provide Taiwan with yuan regularly or sufficiently, the official said.

Accordingly, the banks licensed to handle NT$-RMB conversion should determine whether to engage in bilateral exchange in accordance with their RMB supply and demand situation.

Taiwanese citizens and foreign visitors can do NT$-RMB exchanges to an amount of up to 20,000 yuan per person per day, according to CBC.

Initially, currency exchange outlets, such as those in hotels, souvenir shops and airports, will only be able to buy yuan from customers but will not be allowed to sell that currency, CBC officials said.

They warned that those banking institutions or currency exchange outlets that have yet to win licenses for operating the NT$-RMB conversion business will see their RMBs confiscated in addition to paying fines.

The newly-liberalized service is aimed at meeting the expected demand from Chinese tourists expected to flood in from July 18 after Taiwan and China signed agreements June 13 for the opening of Taiwan to increased numbers of Chinese tourists.

In the long run, the government will continue talks with the Chinese authorities through its semi-official intermediary Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) on the issue of building a cross-strait currency clearance mechanism to “normalize and systemize” the clearance of Taiwanese and Chinese currencies, the CBC official said.

At present, a maximum of 1,000 Chinese tourists are allowed to visit Taiwan each day, but the number will be raised to 3,000 after July 18, and eventually to 10,000 per day.

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