Bank of the Philippine Islands launches yuan-denominated account

Growth in yuan transactions to $25.54mln in 2009 from $7,313 in 2008 prompted Renminbi products offering.

Yuan or Renminbi products of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) include an interest-earning passbook savings account and time deposit, which will be open for select BPI branches.

"BPI's yuan savings account aims to address the need to safekeep yuan denomination as the Philippine-China economic partnership continues to grow in the domestic market," said BPI.

The bank said offering Chinese yuan will "further strengthen its foreign currency offerings to clients."

The Chinese yuan is the eighth currency available in BPI. Other currency deposit products are US dollars, Japanese yen, euros, British pounds, Australian dollars, Canadian dollars, and Swiss francs. Foreign currency deposits are available in over 50 BPI branches nationwide.

View full report in the Manila Bulletin.