HSBC's Liao Yijian proposes a pilot policy for cross-border financing facilitation

Liao Yijian, Co-CEO of HSBC Asia and the Middle East and a member of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, stated that in recent years, Beijing has made significant progress in enhancing the convenience of cross-border financing. However, the current core access standards for the pilot program are relatively singular, and he suggests optimizing policies to promote cross-border financing for enterprises.

Liao Yijian believes that consideration could be given to broadening the access standards for the pilot program, implementing a "universal + targeted" strategy, including removing restrictions on enterprise types and establishing a green special channel for enterprises related to dual carbon projects; under the existing special quota for foreign debt, establishing a basic quota for non-technology innovation enterprises to meet cross-border financing needs.

Liao Yijian mentioned that current policies stipulate that enterprises can independently borrow foreign debt up to a unified limit of USD 10 million, while high-quality enterprises can increase this limit to USD 20 million based on recognition from the "Innovation Points System" in Zhongguancun.

He suggested adopting more flexible quota management measures, such as considering appropriate increases in foreign debt limits for growth-stage enterprises with high R&D investment or relatively mature enterprises. Additionally, for mature multinational enterprises, foreign debt limits could be dynamically managed on an annual basis according to the scale of their owner's equity to meet financing needs at various stages of enterprise development